My boyfriend’s got this big rambunctious dog that has a very bad habit of running beside someone’s car when they leave his house. People always come really close to hitting him, but he had never actually gotten hurt until today.
The boyfriend had to go to work, so I left his house when he did. He was in front of me as we were leaving so Kato began chasing his car. I turned onto the road and Kato came back towards me to chase my car. He got beside me on the passengers side and I slowed down a bit in case he decided to run in front of me. Well, he ran in front of me. I hit the brakes but not quite quick enough, because I ran over his back left foot. Of course I instantly burst into tears and called my boyfriend to tell him what I had done. He couldn’t come back to check on the dog so he called his parents to come console me. I was too shaken up to actually go check on the dog myself, plus I thought he might be in pain and snap at me.
As I waited for them to get there, I saw Kato limp back towards the house holding up his foot. Then he sat down and licked his foot for a bit. I turned the car around to park it in the driveway and when I got out of the car, Kato was nowhere to be found. When his mom and dad got there, we looked everywhere. My boyfriend lives out in the country so the dog could have been hiding ANYWHERE. We looked for over an hour and couldn’t find him.
I feel so horrible! It wouldn’t have been quite so bad had we found the dog, but now I’m even more worried because I don’t even know if he is okay :(.
Don’t panic yet, he may come home on his own. He’s just a bit scared and confused right now. Actually, he’s probably hiding nearby. There’s a good chance that when your boyfriend comes home and calls to him, the dog may come bounding out of a bush.
I’m sorry this happened to you. It’s very traumatic to accidentally hurt a living creature.
I have to say, though, that a man who a) lets his dog chase cars up the street and b) won’t return home to care for an injured dog just shouldn’t own a dog. If the dog had been cared for properly (i.e. fenced yard or dog run, “country” or no country) this wouldn’t have happened to you or the dog.
I’m sure he hasn’t wandered far and that you’ll find him. If it was just his foot, it’s probably not life-threatening at this point. Have you tried bringing out his favorite treats to entice him in?
I forgot the most important part: It’s NOT your fault. It was your boyfriend’s responsibility to provide a safe environment for the dog. Don’t beat yourself up about it, no matter the outcome.
I really agree with **Large Marge ** on this. Your boyfriend should have prevented the dog from chasing cars in the first place. It is potentially dangerous for both the dog and for drivers. The dog was lucky - you slowed down and were trying to avoid him. It is a sad fact of life that there are drivers who would have swerved to hit the dog if it annoyed them. And your boyfriend not coming back to check on him is just cold.
Let us know how the dog is doing - I hope he’s not hurt badly. And please don’t beat yourself up about this - it wasn’t your fault.
raz, just to echo others, it was not your fault. Doesn’t make it any less stressful, I know. You just got one of those big hearts. Good for you!
There was a problem with a dog on my road that liked to chase cars. He waited at a school bus stop with some kids every day and chased cars as they came down the road. One morning I stopped my car, went over to the kids and asked who the dog belonged to. Turns out it was the people in the house across the road who have a large fenced in back yard. I talked to the lady there and told her that if I saw the dog out one more time I was calling animal control. He hasn’t been out since. If he’d just sat there with the kids I wouldn’t have cared one way or another but with everybody going to work and him chasing cars it was just going to be a matter of time before he got hit. That’s why I complained.
Don’t beat yourself up over this. I’m sure he’ll be fine.
He called today and said that the dog was sitting on the porch when he came home from work! Apparently he had a cut foot and it was swollen but other than that it didn’t appear that any bones were broken. The dog is at the vet’s office right now getting taken care of. I feel so much better now knowing that it wasn’t as bad as I ahd imagined it would be. I had visions of this dog having a horribly crushed and mangled foot with bone splinters poking out and…well you get the picture!
We both know that the dog should have been tied up/fenced in. My boyfriend is going to get a pen built for it. And he couldn’t really have come back to check on the dog himself, he goes to work in a different town and was already on his way. That’s why he had his parents come out instead who live just a few miles up the road from his house.
Thanks to everyone that made me feel better. I know it wasn’t my fault but I was still upset over it!