This is a sad story about a dog. So if you don’t like that kind of thing please stop reading now.
I was driving home late in the evening after finishing my last pet sit. As I turned off of Spring Mill Rd. my headlights caught an elderly dog crossing just of front of me. He was a little black mutt, his face almost completely gray. I could see he had tags and a collar. Usually when I see a stray it’s a young male, usually not fixed and usually no collar. In this case I was pretty certain this was a local person’s pet that had somehow escaped.
As soon as I saw the dog I rolled down my passenger window and yelled “hey buddy” trying to get his attention. He seemed not to hear me, and I later wondered if he could be deaf. Unfortunately, I was on a part of Spring Mill Rd. that had a field on one side and a horse farm on the other. It was pitch black. I could see nothing.
With my car still in the middle of the road I hop out to grab the slip lead I keep in my trunk so I can contain the little guy. I have no idea where he is though. I get in my car and drive along Spring Mill. I see nothing at all, although I did pass a car that was stopped or slowed down on the other side of the road. I turn around to drive the stretch of road again. It’s then that I see him. Within seconds of passing me he had been hit by a car and killed instantly. His tiny body is against the side of the road, a pool of blood beside his head. I stop the car, feeling nothing but sorrow for a dog that had lived a long life only to have it end so quickly and so tragically. I feel it’s my responsibility to take his tags and at least call his owner so he/she can know what happened. I’m dreading this, but it needs to be done. When I reach the dog I look down. His tags/collar are gone. I knew they were there as there was a mark where the collar clearly had been. Apparently the car I saw slowing down earlier had stopped to retrieve his tags. It may have been the person who hit the dog. I’ll never know. I’m certain it was nobody’s fault. Just a tragedy that couldn’t be avoided. I will never forget this little guy, and I hope his life was filled with joy before that awful dark night.