Lowlights

Message 264 of 1360

I'm a field technician and on the road a lot. As I was heading down the highway on Wed afternoon, I saw a young woman in a crossover, stopped and out of her car on her phone. As I passed the crossover, I realized she was standing near a downed dog. I made a u-turn and headed back to see if I could be of any help. It was awful. She said someone had hit this poor dog and just left him there to die. He looked like a large bulldog mix, sturdy, stocky and very handsome. He had a collar but no tags or ID. He had severe injuries particularly to his head. I knelt next to him, spoke softly as lightly placed my hand on his side to feel for breathing or heartbeat and felt slight movement. I was just a few miles from home so I called my husband and asked him to come get the dog but, before he could get there, the poor baby started to convulse and I saw his life slip away. I rolled him onto some bubble wrap I had in my work vehicle and was able to then slide him away from the travel lane so he didn't get hit again. His injuries on his opposite side were even worse. When my husband arrived we transferred him to a beach towel he brought, I closed the dog's eyes and covered his face with the towel to keep the flies off him while we tried to find an owner. No owner was found but another dog lover had stopped and she and my husband loaded him into her truck so she could take him home and bury him.
I hate that people in my area let their dogs run loose especially so close to a 4 lane divided 70 mph highway and I hate that anyone would hit this dog and not stop to help and I hate that this dog died a horrible death because of irresponsible, uncaring humans....

posted by dogdazed

I am sorry you had to endure that. I witnessed a dog being struck by a car, but the dog was not seriously injured. I got that dog to a vet; the driver of the car never stopped. The owner of the dog I found did not allow her elderly toy poodle to run loose; her grandson left the back gate of her yard insecurely latched and it crept open enough to allow this little fellow to go exploring. Mostly blind and deaf, he trotted out into a busy highway.

All too often, dogs get loose; in spite of my own almost paranoid precautions, I left a gate open one night when I was distracted by something. Two dogs got out, only one came back. The other was hit by a car and killed. Where I live now, a dog has to get through at least two fences to leave the yard. Even so, I am still paranoid and check fences and gates on a regular basis.

There are people who are so stupid that they believe that their dogs will stay within their own yards without a fence. The people who live behind me had a dog, but no fence. It was a large male mixed breed. They thought it was nice for the dog to fence run with the dogs in my yard or in another's yard. I didn't find it so amusing and would bring my dogs in when he would be out. I once called her to tell her he was outside the fence in front of my house. My front fence is about 10 feet back from the road and the speed limit in front of my house is 55. She was shocked and called him home, but continued to let him run loose. One of the neighbors told me that he found the dog dead in the road, not more than a few hundred feet from my property. They haven't gotten another dog.

It is heartbreaking when a dog suffers because of the stupidity (no matter how brief the stupidity) of the owner or custodian. I could give you many more stories about tragedies, but enough is enough. We all know of dogs who suffered because of owners being irresponsible.

Just one thing. Dogs without tags might have microchips. Every shelter has a scanner as does every vet. Every dog should have a collar and tags, even if microchipped. If possible, contact the local shelter and give them as complete a description as possible of the dog that died, so that if the owners are trying to find the dog they will know to stop looking.