Have any of you ever hit a dog?

The husband, kids and I were traveling home last evening from my son's basketball camp in Oklahoma....Lots of cars on interstate 35....all traveling 70-75 mph....this beautiful dog came out of nowhere.....My husband didn't have a choice but to hit him.....it was either the dog or us, I'm sure of it....but it was such a horrible experience. We know the dog was killed instantly because of what we saw when we looked back...as well as the damage our car sustained. My husband is feeling so bad about it. He loves dogs as much as we all do.....He did everything he could to avoid it but had no choice. It makes me so mad that SOME people, certainly not all, think that because they live in the country, dogs don't have to be fenced....or this may have been some dog dumped by some irresponsible owner.....who knows....all I know is we are traumatized, our car has a lot of damage, and a beautiful big puppydog is now on the Rainbow Bridge......at least he can't be hurt there......

What a nightmare, I'm sorry you had to go through it. I hit a cat when I was a teenager, couldn't find the kitty anywhere after, it was at night I even went back with my dad and couldn't find it so I am hoping it didn't sustain a bad injury.

Makes it double hard when your children are in the car.

I´m sorry for all involved.. it´s very sad.. but there are sometimes you just can´t avoid it.. even less at those speeds... hey even going slower sometimes you just can´t dodge em.. maybe another cars nearby or whatnot..

the lesser or two evils is that he died instantly and didn´t suffer...RIP doggy

I haven´t hit a dog.. but we have hit a few rabbits on a highway too :(

but I did had an experience of a dog hitting ME.. yeah.. he bolted out of his house and hit my car in the drivers door.. nothing serious I was going like 20km/hr.. he just bonked my car.. lol..

30 years ago I was driving home after work. It was dark and the dog darted out in front of my car from in between parked cars. I did slam on my breaks but I heard a bump. I immediately got out and began looking for the dog, who was nowhere to be found. I knocked on doors but it was futile.

I felt like you do. But there are certain times when things like that happen and there's really nothing you can do about it.

I hit and killed a...well, it was so dark, I don't know what it was, but it certainly could have been a smallish dog. I was a twisting road, the middle of the night, and as you said...the poor critter came out of nowhere. I had no way to avoid it. I still felt bad, but there was no way to change it.

Oh goodness, one of my nightmares!

Nope never have. Years back, I thought I'd hit a squirrel on the highway ramp. I was sick all day, all night. Traveled that route next day (I just HAD to!), no signs of a squirrel. So I think he made it across.

I am SO very sorry that the entire family (or anyone in your family) had to go through this. I can well imagine, just horrible feeling.

I'm sorry, that's very traumatic, I know.

I was driving in a residential area, going about 30 mph. A giant lab ran across the road out of nowhere and ran smack into the drivers door of my car! He yelped, got up, shook himself and kept running to the other side of the road. Hard head! I tried to catch him, but he seemed fine and kept going. It was wierd.

I also had a deer jump out of ditch beside the road and right into the hood of my car. The deer was not so lucky, it was dead by the time I pulled over and went to check. My car had some damage, but nothing terrible. Lucky.

I always try not to hit animals, and I will slow down if possible. Sometimes it's just not possible to avoid it. I have read to never try to swerve to miss an animal. A lot of time, the animal bolts anyway, and you end up hitting it even you swerve, and the danger of losing control of your vehicle or hitting another car is very real.

Yes, I'm glad he didn't swerve because to the right, he would have hit an car and to the left, we probably would have flipped...he did turn the car just a bit, but he kept control.....I cannot imagine hitting a deer....The man at the body shop today said his dad hit a cow once, and almost totalled a 2 ton pickup....I heard another story today about a person hitting a deer, and it came through the windshield but luckily the antlers were pointing the other way....Man, God was looking out for us, that is for sure....and I know He is taking care of that sweet puppydog now.....

It is sad, but it would be much sadder if he had swerved and you and/or your family were hurt.

I hit a cat one time on my country road. I was devastated and crying. I pulled over and an Amish man came out from his barn. He said...eh it was just an old barn cat. Sad. I cried and cried.

It is tough for me not to swerve when I see any animal on the road.

I have been very lucky so far although I have come close to hitting deer and they jumped in front of my car.
I am so sorry that this horrible accident happened to your family. Please give you husband a PT hug and tell him he did the right thing, to have swerved and tried to avoid hitting the dog could have cost you all your lives.

Shannon, as I told on Facebook, I was working at the day care and was in the van to go pick up kids from school. My co-worker was behind me in another van (I didn't much care for this co-worker). A black cat came out of nowhere and I didn't even have time to react. Which is probably a good thing since I was in a large van. I cried and cried so hard. When we got to the school the girl from the other van came up to my van and when I got out she just grabbed me and held on to me until I calmed down enough to go get the kids.
On the way back we passed the kitty who was in the middle of the road. :( I almost started crying again. It was very hard not to.

When I was in high school my sister came to pick me up one night after cheerleading practice (or a game). On the way home we hit a cocker spaniel. We turned around to look for it but couldn't find it. It was near the house of a guy I went to school with. So I asked him if he had a cocker and he said he has four of them. I asked if they were all okay and told him what happened. He said he noticed there was a black oil like streak down the back of the male but he was okay. Whew!

Another time I was with a guy I was dating and it was dark. The car in front of us hit a dog and I saw it go flying. I FREAKED out and was crying hysterically. I think (I can't even remember) the car that hit it stopped, but we kept going. He was not an animal lover. Hmph, that's why I'm not with him now.

Sometimes we just can't help it. I grew up in the country and have seen several accidents because people swerved to miss an animal. Even had a few deaths because people hit a cow or horse. I called 911 one time because as I exited the freeway a big brown horse ran across the road. I followed it because I didn't want it to go onto the freeway. I never did find out if they found him.

Big hugs to you and your family. And just take peace that the pup is not in pain and is playing at the bridge.

I am so sorry this happened to you, it must be awful, but you did the right thing, a lady who lived in my street swerved to miss hitting a cat, sadly she lost her life because of it, RIP little pup and try not to feel to bad, it was an accident that could not be helped.

So sorry hear her what happened :(

I haven't hit a pet yet, but I have run over a couple of HUGE Toronto rats :eek:
They made my car bounce as they were THAT big... Even though they are pests I still didn't want to hit them :(

Many years ago my godfather had a Moose charge his Jeep. The passenger side of eh Jeep hit her head & it removed the front & rear top side of the jeep. If anyone else would have been in it, they would have been killed by her head.

Sadly the Moose didn't Die quickly. My godfather stayed in his Jeep as he knew the moose could kill him & he was forced to listen to her cry & cry & cry.


I've seen several animals hit by cars & they have all been terrible experiences :(
Poor Beaver & young Deer

I'm so sorry to hear this.:( No, I've never hit a dog but I did hit a duck one night. During certain times of the year ducks start hanging out in the condo complex where I live. I was coming home and it was very dark and a duck must've been trying to cross the street. I was only going about 25 miles an hour at the most and I heard a clunk. I looked back and saw a duck staggering away. The duck seemed to be okay so I kept on going.

So sorry hear her what happened :(

I haven't hit a pet yet, but I have run over a couple of HUGE Toronto rats :eek:
They made my car bounce as they were THAT big... Even though they are pests I still didn't want to hit them :(

Many years ago my godfather had a Moose charge his Jeep. The passenger side of eh Jeep hit her head & it removed the front & rear top side of the jeep. If anyone else would have been in it, they would have been killed by her head.

Sadly the Moose didn't Die quickly. My godfather stayed in his Jeep as he knew the moose could kill him & he was forced to listen to her cry & cry & cry. :(


I've seen several animals hit by cars & they have all been terrible experiences :(
Poor Beaver & young Deer

OMG Shannon, I'm so sorry! I saw this thread yesterday but didn't open it. I thought you meant "hit" as in "slap" and I was like, well, yeah, I've swatted Sunny's butt a couple of times :)

I am so sorry you and your family had to experience that. I'm glad your husband didn't instintively swerve; he put his family first and that is exactly what he should have done and I'm glad his brain knew it. When my Bean was missing, I was actually hoping to find that he was hit by a car because I know that that death would have been fast and painless. That dog didn't suffer and is now at RB where cars are not allowed :)

Big hugs to you and your family!!!!!

I was a passenger in a car once and I thought out of the corner of my eye, I saw MY DOGS running down the road (one white; one black; this was when I had Stryker and Sydney). The black dog suddenly ran into the road and we hit it! It was stuck under the car and screaming. I freaked! BUT...I couldn't deal with it. I ran away from the scene for a few seconds. A passerby stopped and told my friend to slowly back up to free the dog. By then, I had come back and watched her back up and the dog (not my Sydney...Thank GOD) got up and ran off. We spent a few hours trying to find it but never did. When I got home, I found my dogs in the house. I still can't believe my reaction though. I had so much regret that I would run away instead of get right under the car and help but I guess I just couldn't deal with it. I hope I would handle emergencies better now that I'm older.

Haven't yet...my worst nightmare!

A happy story to ease things a bit...years ago, I was driving east out of Vancouver (west, you get wet!) and was just hitting the highway speed. I slowed down quickly as two other cars were stopped in front of me, one in each lane. There was a median, then two lanes of traffic going west - cars were stopped there too.

All waited patiently until a mother Canadian goose and her babies toddled safely across the highway. :)

boomersooner...there was nothing else anyone could have done. If you feel a need to talk to a pastor, or grief counsellor, think about it. It totally makes sense.

{{{{hugs}}}}

Thanks everyone!! We are all feeling better about it....taking the car into the body shop on Monday for repairs.....Catty1...funny you should tell that story about the geese...after the accident, we were about 5 minutes from home, and a police officer stopped traffic to let a loose dog cross a busy street...I'm so glad he did that...don't think I could have experienced it again! It is also such a relief to know about the Rainbow Bridge and to believe in it!!