We were driving back home after having dinner with my mother in Richmond, it was about 10:40pm and we were just a few blocks away from the house. Suddenly I saw a white streak on my left and heard Arieanna yell and I slammed on the breaks. It was too late, though, and the front left of the car hit the dog pretty hard. What a difference 2 or 3 seconds can make.

I put the hazards on and got out of the car while Arieanna called for help. The dog, one hind leg really messed up, started limping towards the curb and eventually lay down on a patch of grass. A man went to it and he told me he was the dog’s owner. He apologized, saying how the dog never crosses the street like that and never chases any other animals. The dog’s leg was bleeding and you could tell he was in a lot of pain

Some bystanders came to us and offered their phones to call for help, and we started trying to find a place in the north shore that would handle emergency cases like this. The cops showed up around this point, first a K9 unit and then another patrol car, and they also tried to find out where to take the dog. It turns out there is no emergency pet hospital anywhere in the north shore (and if you do know of one, please let me know). The closest one is in Vancouver on 4th and Fir.

We eventually put the dog in the car and I drove him and the owner to the pet hospital as fast as possible. Arieanna followed in a patrol car (driving much slower than me, they are not allowed to use their sirens or go fast for animals). They were waiting for us and quickly took the dog in to assess the damage.

We were there for a while, they did some x-rays and determined there was no injury to any organs, but the leg is really messed up and needs surgery. The dog stayed there overnight and we drove the owner back to his place and then went home.

I hope the dog will be fine. I feel really bad about all this and I did everything I could do to help. The real fault lies on the dog’s owner, who did not put a leash on it. I don’t care that your dog “never crosses the street”, or “never chases after animals”, if you love your dog put a leash on it for its safety and the safety of others (and if you don’t love it enough to do this, please give it to someone who will and get a goldfish).

I’ll let Arieanna tell you in another post how this managed to hurt her neck again :(