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DH accidentally knocked over dog

53 replies

Soontobe60 · 26/03/2021 08:03

My DH was driving home from work a couple of days ago when he felt something hit his car. He saw a man at the side of the road with a big fishing net shouting, so he stopped the car as he believed the man had thrown something at it. He shouted at the man asking if he’d thrown something at the car. The man said it was a dog but not his dog. DH hadn’t seen a dog and there wasn’t one anywhere nearby, not were there any marks on the car, so he just assumed the man was a bit odd and had in fact thrown something at his car. He hung around a bit then drove home. When he told me about it he was still convinced the man had been lying about there being a dog.
Last night I was on FB local page and saw a post about a puppy that had been hit by a car. So it seems that DH did hit a dog after all! The pup was on a walk along the canal off lead, got spooked by a bigger dog and ran off. It then ran straight across the road (a bridge over the canal) and into the side of DHs car, and continued running to its house which is down a side street. It was found eventually by its owners and sadly died.
DH is absolutely devastated that he’s killed a pup. He’s attempted to contact the police and eventually spoken to them this morning. They didn’t seem concerned but said if he wants he can go to the local station to make a report, which he will do as soon as it’s open.
The post on FB is really upsetting as it’s saying the usual stuff like ‘hang the bastard’ etc. I feel really bad for him because he genuinely didn’t know he’d hit anything, he stopped and saw nothing, no dog, no owners and there were no marks on his car. He’s a real dog lover and is so upset at this pup dying. He doesn’t know who the owners are as the post is anonymous, but would like to try to contact them. I feel that if he does this via FB he’s just going to get a load of abuse online. I’m not sure how else he could contact them.

OP posts:
ClaudiaWankleman · 26/03/2021 08:07

That’s a terrible situation, but it isn’t your DH’s fault. It is the fault of the owners of the puppy that they couldn’t control.

Wait for things to die down a bit - a week or so - then try and make contact if your DH still wants to.

Radio4Rocks · 26/03/2021 08:11

Not your DH's fault at all. Ignore the morons on local forums. Hotbeds of idiocy.

Diddumz · 26/03/2021 08:11

Did your dh get out of the car to see what had hit the car? You said he checked for damage to the car?

Perhaps he didn't hit the dog after all, if he didn't see its body.

M0rT · 26/03/2021 08:11

I have a puppy and this exact fear is the reason I do my best to keep her from being able to run near a road.
She is only off lead in a large fenced in field because she's a puppy with no road sense!
I'm not blaming the owners, accidents happen but your DH shouldn't blame himself either. He could not have predicted what happened.
Do not let him contact the owners, they are unlikely to be reasonable in grief.

aintnocoffeebigenough · 26/03/2021 08:14

Oh dear OP, definitely not DH’s fault but I can only imagine how shitty he’s feeling Sad He even hung around for a while so it’s not like he thought he’d hit a dog and just drove away quickly like some awful people have done.

Flowers Cake

Lochroy · 26/03/2021 08:14

What a sad situation, but not your DH's fault. He did stop at the scene and had contacted the police so can't do anymore than that.

I'd ignore the Facebook stuff, but if you feel the need for a right of reply, you could message the group's administrator and ask them to post anonymously along the lines of 'we've been made aware the driver of the vehicle involved both stopped at the scene to look for the dog and has subsequently already contacted the police'.

passengers · 26/03/2021 08:15

I would feel bad too..but it is not your DH fault. sadly there seems to be a lot of people with dogs who have no idea how how to handle them.

PuffMagicDragon · 26/03/2021 08:19

your poor husband, that's awful

that's a good suggestion @Lochroy

Frazzled2207 · 26/03/2021 08:21

I dread this sort of thing happening.
Why the f did the owners have a puppy off the lead near a road? Your dh did nothing wrong at all, quite the opposite as he clearly looked at his car to see if he had hit anything.
If he had seen the puppy I’m sure he would then have done the right thing.
Even if he does find the owners they might not be reasonable people. I’d let things calm down for a few days. He has contacted the police- the owners could call the police and potentially put two and two together but I doubt it somehow.
If it was my dh I’d probably make a donation to a dog rescue charity and try and put it behind us if we had no way of contacting the owner

DoubleTweenQueen · 26/03/2021 08:22

That's a very sad story :( That poor pup, and your poor DH!
The fault lies with the owners. You don't progress to off-lead other than in a controlled way.
If it were me, I'd be tempted to go on FB and relay the events 'via knowing the devastated driver involved' and put them right.
It's deflecting their own culpability onto an unknown third party, either directly or allowing their friends to do so for them.

So sorry your DH was put in this position. It's not his fault.

Moondust001 · 26/03/2021 08:23

I love dogs, but this is not his fault, if it happened at all. Any dog that doesn't have recall shouldn't be off the lead in any unenclosed space where it can run off. My 5 year old Border Collie knows that if (and it is rare) something is deemed "scary" then he runs to me, not away from me. When he was too small to recall / understand, then he was either on a lead, on a training lead (so I could grab him easily), or in an enclosed space off lead.

It's sad, but this is the owners fault. Not his.

Moondust001 · 26/03/2021 08:24

Sorry - I should clarify that by "if it happened at all" I meant if it was him who hit it! Not that I didn't believe you!

Morana23 · 26/03/2021 08:25

How awful for your DH, not his fault and he's done the right thing. Someone I know had a puppy and was very careless with having it off lead, it got ran over and died after running out of the park and into the main road. Was so sad for the puppy but couldn't help feeling a bit cross at the owner, I know they weren't watching pup properly and I felt so sorry thinking of the poor driver who will have to live with that. I ran over a squirrel once in a driving lesson and cried for hours!
Hope you and your DH are ok Flowers

ivfbeenbusy · 26/03/2021 08:26

It's awful but it's not your DH fault.

A dog was killed when it ran into my car when it was off the lead next to a Main road. (Also wrote my car off for which I claimed against the dog owners)

Hoppinggreen · 26/03/2021 08:27

Poor pup but it’s why you make sure they are on a lead near roads.
Your DH has done the right thing by speaking to The Police and he should report locally too but he shouldn’t say anything on FB, he will just get a load of abuse

BigFatLiar · 26/03/2021 08:29

Not his fault but he was correct in reporting it, it is a requirement.

The reality would also be that if the car was damaged he could claim of the dog owner.

Cavagirl · 26/03/2021 08:31

DH is absolutely devastated that he’s killed a pup

"Confessing" to the owners is not going to make them or him feel any better

DoubleTweenQueen · 26/03/2021 08:31

@M0rT Same here. My pup is wonderful on her long line, checking back and coming back to us, but it's a long process teaching them awareness and behaviours when out in the big wide world. Not only road safety, but manners around people, dogs, wildlife, and impulse control - including steadiness at sudden scary events. That's my responsibility.
There seems to be a bit of a challenge to achieve off-lead too quickly, and things like this happen all too often :(

user1493494961 · 26/03/2021 08:33

Don't put anything on Facebook or try and contact the owners, a report to the Police will be sufficient.

SionnachGlic · 26/03/2021 08:35

Poor pup. Poor DP, I can imagine he feels so bad but it is not his fault at all if pup off lead & ran out. I would stay off FB on this for now at least. People love to judge... on here too alot of the time. Is DP sure it is him...place & time matches exactly etc. He's done the right thing letting police know. He can contact owners when things die down & let them now, if they say he was slow to come forward, that he made a report himself but was not going to engage on SM with the crazies etc. They should have had pup on lead & they must know that & accept responsibility too. Poor little puppy.

LoveDrunk · 26/03/2021 08:37

Have the people lied on Facebook as to how it happened then? If they wrote the truth that the dog got spooked by another dog and ran into the side of a car, not many people would be saying ‘hang the bastard’, surely? So if they have lied, then I don’t think contacting them will achieve much. I think he’s done all the right things so I’d leave it. I hope your DH is ok, I’d feel exactly the same as he does even though it wasn’t his fault.

Roselilly36 · 26/03/2021 08:38

Owner at fault here. Always report to the police if you hit a dog though.

Similar things happened locally recently, upset owners straight on Fb, threatening the driver, saying they were going to sue, report the driver for careless driving etc. post soon disappeared when they learned they were at fault & driver could actually sue them for damage etc.

Soontobe60 · 26/03/2021 08:38

Thank you everyone for your kind words.

OP posts:
Dee1975 · 26/03/2021 08:39

Very sad story but not your DH fault. The puppy ran out in front of him! He didn’t even see the dog before or after. Of course he will feel awful but it’s not his fault.
Questions should be raised however as to why someone was walking a puppy near a road without a lead ...

eurochick · 26/03/2021 08:50

A similar thing happened when I was a child. We were driving past a park in a very busy seafront town when a streak of yellow appeared from between the row of parked cars in front of the park. My dad did an emergency stop but couldn't avoid hitting the dog. We had a sporty car with a very low spoiler so think we pushed it along rather than it going under the wheels. We stopped but the dog raced off so I have no idea how badly hurt it was. 30 years on I can still hear the blood curdling yelping. This was long before the days of social media so there is no way of knowing what the outcome was. My dad is a huge dog lover and was very shaken up by it.