Sometmes, there's just nothing you can do

This all actually happened Monday, but I didn't want to write about it then.


I thought of writing posts twice today. My first would have been titled: Day One of My Captivity. As you can see, it didn't end up that way.

I had yet another adult milestone today. I went downtown to serve my jury duty. I'll post more about that at a later time. The good news from that part of the day was that I got to have lunch with Pants and we were dismissed two hours early.

And now the bad parts of the day.

Over lunch, Pants told me that we have to get a new car. The old car, the one that belches of black smoke, needed a new spark plug and would never recover from its recent illness.

After jury duty, I called Pants and we decided to meet up at his parents' house in Edmond to return the car they'd been letting us borrow until ours was fixed. Having a game plan, I called my mom to chat with her and fill her in on the day's events.

Here's where, if you're a dog lover or someone who doesn't like to hear about animals hurt, you'll want to stop reading. Seriously.



Alright, I gave you an out, so don't say I didn't warn you.





I was driving up Sante Fe, when something to my left caught my eye. I turned just in time to see a large, white, shepard mix leap from behind a bush on the side of the road in front of a car going the opposite direction.

Midsentence I screamed "OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD!" I'm sure my mother thought I'd been in a car wreck. I applaud her for not instantly saying "WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT?"

I looked back to see the dog roll back and forth between the side of the car and the curb like a rag doll and come to a stop laying against the curb in the street.

I was almost hyperventilating at this point. My mom told me to pull over and take a deep breath. I had no idea what to do. Was the lady who hit the dog going to stop? Did anyone else see that? Do you bother calling 911 for an injured dog?

I decided to drive back by and see if the dog was moving. I turned around in a parking lot and did a drive by. So not moving. But I couldn't stand it if it was laying there hurt and I didn't do anything about it so I pulled into the nearest neighborhood and parked.

I called my vet who suggested I call animal control. I called the Edmond Animal Control and they were very nice and said that I was actually still in OKC, so I'd need to call their animal control.

I called the Oklahoma City Animal Control ... and got no answer. I called again. No answer.

So, armed with my cell phone and an umbrella (you don't touch an injured dog you don't know, it could bite because it's anxious or hurt) I made my way out to the accident site.

Somehow, the dog was now laying up on the sidewalk. No one else was in sight. I still don't know if the dog managed to crawl up on the sidewalk or if someone passing by moved it.

It was laying on its side, eye's wide open and still wet, mouth slightly ajar. There was a puddle beside it that confused me because it wasn't blood ... then I realized that the dog had voided its bowels. Not good.

I finish doing my unprofessional evaluation in time to look up to see a woman walking toward me. She was wearing sunglasses and a fancy tank top.

I said something about looking for a collar and tag and she nodded. I leaned down and hesitated. Cars were flying by about two feet from my head. The dog still looked so alive. What if I got hit bending over, what if the dog turned around and bit me as I touched it?

I got in my fireworks pose (sitting on my heels, ready to run) and reached out. The long white fur was so soft and still warm. I almost threw up then.

The heat coming from the dog really bothered me. I didn't want to touch it anymore, but I kept thinking about the family that would surely miss this dog that night. I wanted to call if there was a tag.

I pulled the purple collar around its neck all the way around. No tag. Who bothers to put a collar on a dog without a tag? Seriously? Maybe the dog had chewed the tag off. Maybe it was a new collar or the family had just moved and hadn't gotten one with a current address on it.

I look at the lady and she starts telling me, in a very teary voice, how she never saw the dog and she slammed on her brakes and ....

I stop her and tell her that I saw the whole thing. There was nothing she could have done. That dog saw something on the other side of the road and jumped right in front of her. It didn't think, just acted on impulse. There's no way she could have seen it. I feel good to be able to tell her this. It's what I'd want to hear and it's the truth.

She looks at it again and asks if I think it's dead. I point to the puddle and say "Well, it looks like it ..." I'm about to say "voided its bowels" but realize that that sounds pretentious and opt for "went to the restroom" right as she finishes for me with "it peed."

She asks me what I think we should do. I tell her that I've called Edmond Animal Control and will keep calling the Oklahoma City Animal Control.

We're both staring at the dog, reluctant to leave it all alone, dead on the sidewalk in the bright sun. Neither of us knows what to do, so I reiterate my calling plan. I consider knocking on doors of nearby houses, but think I'd probably get the police called on me.

She says she saw a black dog running after she hit the white one, but it ran away from her when she tried to get near it to check its tag. I consider combing the neighborhoods for this new dog. The one that lived.

I made it back to the car before I started crying. Feeling useless, I call OKC again. And again. I don't know what they were doing that was so important, but I never got through to them.

Not knowing what else to do, I drove to my in-laws' house. And felt like throwing up for two hours. I cried all the way home.

When I got home, I hugged my dogs tight. They let me and even licked my face.