Dog hit by car venting

So I had a long day at fire fighter one class lots of heavy lifting. I come home wash the dishes cook diner and then proceed to bed. as soon as I get in bed I hear ****. go into the living room where Girlfriend is suiting up in knee high boots rain jacket.We live in AK and it's snowing. I saw what where are you going? " Beua(my 75lb 6 yr old chocolate lab) has run off" I say "does he have his tags on?" her-"NO" WTf so I suit suit up grab the mag light and run outside calling my dog.

Next thing I hear is a horn honk I think "**** he's in the road" I run to the street just in time to hear smack him yelp and haul ass across the street. you can imagine the obsenities and thoughts i have. Car drives off.

I tear off running down the road towards where he got hit calling his name. i scream at her to get the truck and some lights. and for what seemed like forever im looking in yards in the creeks beds everywhere then i have the thought maybe he went home. girlfriend is balling her eyes out screaming his name looking. I told her i wast mad just to shut her up and bring her back to task.


I run home there's the dog by the front door cut up bleeding and refusing to stand up.

call the emergyncy vet haul ass there and wait for her to get there.

Beau's skint up and beat up but no broken bones. bigest concerns is Pulminary contusion causing breathing problems but nothing major yet.
They're keeping him over night.

I am trying very hard not to be mad the GF but seriously she let my dog out with ought going with him and no tag. WTF I dont know what im going to do if my dog dies... thats my buddy my pal he goes every where with me lowes, hunting, work, ........

sorry had to vent some where she wont read.


I love the girl but damn.

That sucks...but, there's no way she could've forseen this. The tags wouldn't have done sheet anyway. Once again....that sucks, hope the dog pulls through.....

yeah that blows man hope the dog pulls through and is fine +1 on the tags, but i think id be pissed at the scum bag who drives away after hitting a dog and not stopping to help and atleast say sorry.

Dodged a bullet, the boy is doing great and will be coming home tomorrow. now i can get back to building another brew rig.
will be a while before he is able to run anywhere. vet said he's very bruised. I knew he was hard headed even last night while he was beeing stuck, I was petting him and his tail was wagging.



Happy brewing to you all.

I understand you being upset with the GF, but WTF is with the driver of the car that hit him? Just drives off? I'd track the bastard down and run his ass over and drive off.

Yeah you pretty much have to expect animals to get out on occasion. It's hardly anyone's fault. The ******* who hit your dog and drove off should be arrested and given a really nasty fine or sit a couple weeks in jail.

Wouldn't hold it against her. People make mistakes and she was gearing up to fix it when you came down and she was obviously upset about it as well. Wasn't like she just sent him out because she didn't care. She messed up, yes, but even without you being mad she'll be more careful with him after this since it scared her as well.

I'm not mad at her by any means. I'm just happy the dog is going to be ok. 1K med bill blows though. Oh well they don't put luggage racks on hurst.

Bernie Brewer said:

I understand you being upset with the GF, but WTF is with the driver of the car that hit him? Just drives off? I'd track the bastard down and run his ass over and drive off.

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Probably was trying to avoid over reacting people like yourself. It wasn't the drivers fault.

wildwest450 said:

Probably was trying to avoid over reacting people like yourself. It wasn't the drivers fault.

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There are TWO parties at fault here.
It was our fault since the dog was not on a leash, however given that the incident occurred at night and it was doing the Juneua Snizzle (drizzle and snow) visibility was bad there was no way for the driver to know what they hit be it a dog, person, child. it was not that late and in my opinion any responsible driver should pull over to see what they hit. if it had been a child or person you'd be up the creek for leaving the scene of an accident. We do have a good number of drunks up here that seem to end up passing out wherever sometimes. AS well as a good number of folk who drive drunk.


at any rate,


Got the dog back today. Get to go back on Thursday for evaluation and knee surgery by the ortho surgeon that's making his bi monthly fly in. His leg wiggles in ways it Shouldnt. I Paid the ER tab just under $1K she's paying for the surgery($2-3k). yes my but did pucker when i heard the doc say that. but with surgery doc says I can exspect within 90% of where we was before the incident.

I have had dogs run out and chase me, and I have accidently hit them before. Dogs do not have the right of way on the road, I know its a pet and all, but sometimes we are in a hurry and can't stop and ask up and down the street whose dog is loose.

And that, my friends, is why I have pet insurance. A few bucks a month and if my dog needs something like that, it's paid for.

in Florida my brother was the vet so everything was well.... free.


So if you hit something at night in bad visibility on the road obviously larger than a possum raccoon you would stop to see what you hit? HE is damn near 100lbs and stands 3' tall at the head. you notice when you hit something that large. im sure he did a number on their car.

I am glad to hear your pal is OK, I would loose my mind if something happened to my dogs, my wife is soo paranoid the dogs will get out that the back gate is padlocked and we use the garage door like an airlock, only one door open at a time. front door never gets used and stays locked.

onthekeg said:

I have had dogs run out and chase me, and I have accidently hit them before. Dogs do not have the right of way on the road, I know its a pet and all, but sometimes we are in a hurry and can't stop and ask up and down the street whose dog is loose.

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Sorry. I have to agree. If it's dark snowy and slick out, I am not getting out on the side of the road risking myself getting hit by another car because someone couldn't keep their dog contained.

Having said that, I'm sorry that you had to go through that and am glad your dog turned out ok.

Yah, I dont see why ppl are pissed at the driver. A loose animal runs out into a street and gets hit by a car traveling at high speed, the car was where it was supposed to be, the dog probably not.

Since the dog didnt die, thankfuly, the car probably didnt get that much damage. A car traveling at high speed will easily kill a dog if it is hit square on. Best guess is that the car grazed the dog and some of the injuries are simply from the animal being thrown from the impact.

In any case, glad the dog is fine, but roads are for vehicles, not animals. I have taught my wife to NOT go out of her way to "miss" an animal that runs into the road. She is safer hitting the animal than trying to miss it and running into oncoming traffic or running off the road into a tree. My wife is important, she is a human, animals are animals and we love them, but they are not worth it.

IrregularPulse said:

Sorry. I have to agree. If it's dark snowy and slick out, I am not getting out on the side of the road risking myself getting hit by another car because someone couldn't keep their dog contained.

Having said that, I'm sorry that you had to go through that and am glad your dog turned out ok.

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Sorry. I have to disagree. Hitting an animal on the road, if you think it is someone's pet or ESPECIALLY if you don't know what you hit, it is your responsibility to pull over and assess the damage. No, you are not responsible for damages to the dog (unless you went out of your way to hit it) but you are responsible for the inconvenience of helping out in whatever capacity you're able. And what if you had hit a child who was too close to the road? Imagine the trouble you'd be in for not inconveniencing yourself enough to stop. This is a responsibility we all accept by getting on the road in the first place. If you don't accept it then that makes you not only an irresponsible driver, but a selfish person too.

I personally think that the responsibility lies solely on the animals owner. Yah, it would be nice to stop, but it is hardly ones responsibility. I have hit plenty of animals, and have yet to stop, color me embarassed

I hit a dog at night and stopped and got out to see if it was ok. It was running around and obviously hurt. I wound up going to the vet with the owners too in their car. When we got back they invited me inside for a few minutes. That was about 25 years ago though, I would still stop but probably not do the vet thing.

mightynintendo said:

Sorry. I have to disagree. Hitting an animal on the road, if you think it is someone's pet or ESPECIALLY if you don't know what you hit, it is your responsibility to pull over and assess the damage. No, you are not responsible for damages to the dog (unless you went out of your way to hit it) but you are responsible for the inconvenience of helping out in whatever capacity you're able. And what if you had hit a child who was too close to the road? Imagine the trouble you'd be in for not inconveniencing yourself enough to stop. This is a responsibility we all accept by getting on the road in the first place. If you don't accept it then that makes you not only an irresponsible driver, but a selfish person too.

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I think you're confusing "responsibility" with your own personal moral obligation". It's not hard to tell that it was a dog you hit. The guy obviously saw it if he honked the horn to warn it. I've hit a dog on the way home to college once. It was 11:30 at night on a busy back road with constant up and down hills. I was not going to stop and give another car a chance to come over the hill driving the speed limit and plow into ME because he couldn't stop or didn't see me. I hosed the blood off my fender when I got home and that was that. The owners most likely found their injured or dead dog the next day and hopefully thought "damn, I guess that's what happens when the dog runs loose on the road."
It appears this wasn't a common occurrence of the OP and was an unfortunate accident the 1 time the dog got loose and I hate to see this thread head into such a debate since it is a very serious issue for the OP, but to say that the driver owed anything is pushing your morals on another and not a legal obligation.

Well of course you don't stop if it's not reasonably safe but you should do whatever you can.

mightynintendo said:

Well of course you don't stop if it's not reasonably safe but you should do whatever you can.

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Problem is, if I tell my wife to "do whatever she can" she doesnt know where to draw that line in a split second. Id prefer her to make coyote food.

car that hit him didnt honk the horn thus never saw him. I can gurantee you they had no idea what they hit only that it was big.

Speed limit in front of the house is 30mph Hardldy High speed.

Not blaming the driver for hiting the dog clearly he was not on a lead.

I am Concerned that they would hit a large object in the dark when it's raining and snowing and not stop to see what they hit. coulda been a kid or a drunk

If it had been one of the neighborhood kids then what?

ggoodman said:

Next thing I hear is a horn honk

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ggoodman said:

car that hit him didnt honk the horn thus never saw him.

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First off, I'm glad your dog seems to be okay.

Secondly, did the car honk or not?

(just f'ing with you , but you should keep your story straight)

Good to hear he's okay. Around here, people would almost always stop... because they'd want to take the deer home.

this has given me the chance to see if I can brew on the stove since Im not outside. I am ready for winter to be over and the salmon runs to start.