R.I.P. lil' Jack. :(

The back story: There have a been a couple of times when Tai and I have been walking home and passed our neighbor's house when he was outside with his dogs (a little b&w Jack Russel -my favorite dog, btw- and two puppies, maybe Lab mixes). All three dogs are rambunctious and playful and the two puppies always try to follow us home. It's a funny scene every time and the owner (James) is always apologising because his dogs are jumping on us and he has come and grab them and bring them home because they don't listen. Tai and I think it's funny and we always stop to play with the dogs for a few minutes.

The other day I bumped into James as he was driving around looking for the two puppies because they had got out. I told him I would help him find the dogs so I got in the car. When I got in the car I saw Jack, the little Jack Russel in the car and we drove around whistling and calling for the puppies while I gave Jack some lovins because he's a really sweet dog.

We drove all around the neighborhood and finally, from around a corner, a neighbor emerged walking with both puppies by the scruff of their necks because they don't even have collars on (and they're way too big to carry). I could tell the neighbor had his hands full because like I said, the puppies are big and full of puppy.

I assumed we would get out of the car and put the puppies in the car and drive them home but James said not to worry, they would follow alongside the car and sure enough that's what they did. So, this establishes that the puppies aren't so out of control that they can't be trusted around a moving car.

Anyway, we get the puppies home, I say goodbye to James and lil' Jack and head on my way. Lesson to be learned: Don't let the dogs out.

The story: Last night our friend (wtf member mrcrhistopher) picks me up in his bigass truck to go run some errands before we pick Tai up from work. The sun has been down for a couple hours so it's pretty dark out and there aren't any street lights in my neighborhood so it's really dark.

As we approach James' house we both notice the two puppies playing by the side of the road. Mrcrhistopher slows way down and I'm looking around for James (or anyone), thinking maybe the puppies got out again but there was no one outside with them. As we get up to the dogs, they start jumping at the truck (something I didn't think would happen since I had just seen them behave around James' car a day or so prior) so mrcrhis swerves to get away from them as he brakes even more. We're barely moving forward when...

*fuBUMP*

He stops the car and we both turn our heads and look at each other in disbelief. We get out of the truck and I see the two puppies, all crazy and rambunctious as usual and then I see lil' Jack on the ground.

I run up to the house and ring the doorbell like crazy and a young woman (James' wife/gf I assume. I'm going to call her Susan for this story) answers the door and I tell her that Jack was hit by a car. She comes running out followed by an older woman and an older man (her parents I assume). Jack doesn't look good, at all. He's lying on the ground, not bleeding or anything but barely breathing. Susan is crying (turns out Jack was her dog) and she and her parents are frantically debating what to do. It's obvious by the conversation that they don't have the money to take Jack to the vet even if he might have a chance if they did.

At one point in all the emotional chaos, Susan's mom asks her if she had let the dogs out and I could have sworn I heard her say yes which made me really mad but I didn't say anything. They get Jack wrapped up in a towel and Susan takes him inside while I talk to her mom and explain how bad we feel and I tell her that I know James and just the other day I was hanging out with him and Jack while we searched for the puppies, etc., etc.

As we're departing from the scene, Susan's mom turns and says, "You know what's really bad about this? It's Susan's birthday."

*facepalm*

Obviously, mrcrhis feels bad as he was the one driving but not only was it not his fault, I was pretty sure I had heard Susan say that she had let them out so this could have been avoided. I mean, who the fuck lets these dogs out at night by themselves in the front of the house WHERE THE ROAD IS!?!? That's what back yards are for!

I feel horrible at this point and pissed off. James is a new friend (and a seemingly good guy) and I just killed his dog. At the same time it seems this all could have been easily avoided with the application of common sense. And I feel bad for mrcrhis because he was just minding his own business, he was on his way to buy gifts for his wife and baby and because someone was an idiot, he hit a little dog.

Cut to: Many hours later. We're back home, it's pretty late and there's a knock at the door. It's James. I give him a hug and tell him how horrible I feel. Turns out Jack didn't make it but I didn't figure he would anyway. We talk for a minute and in the conversation James tells me that he had told Susan to let the dogs out front because the back yard was all set up for Susan's birthday.

:sad:
 
Oh that is horrible!!! I am sorry to hear about that dog. I feel bad for you and the you witnessed the whole thing. I nearly hit a cat once and I burst in to tears thinking I ran it over.

Too many pets get hit by cars because owners just don't do the right thing. Animals don't know any better about road and the dangers of running cars. I never let my dogs out without a leash. We have a fenced in back yard and they go out there. My next door neighbor where I used to live used to let his dog out without a leash all the time because he wanted her to feel freedom. He'd boast how he knows she'd never leave the yard. What he didn't know is I already knew that my other surrounding neighbors would feed her and play with them in their yards when she'd wander in to them. Eventually, they did start to leash her cause some people..including us, complained about their dog. Not because she was a nuisance. She was everyone's sweetheart, but we all were worried about her safety because there was a lot of construction in the area and people drive way too fast down our road. Luckily, no one ever was hurt, but what a shame that would be if she did get hurt!

I'm sorry about your friend's loss. I hope they are able to move on and get another dog. I hope this next time, they learn their lesson and keep the dog on their property with the proper restraint...a fence? ...a leash/tether? I hate invisible fences cause they don't do anything but hurt the dog and scare them from coming back if they manage to get past the initial sting ...but they are an option. I hope mrchristopher is ok too.
 
Damn...that sucks. Sorry to hear about that. Shit happens sometimes.

Yeah they should've just taken 'em for a quick walk instead of just plain letting 'em out. Had other things on the mind though...
 
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