Bad day today

Had a good day go bad today. The guy helping at the track left a couple minutes before me and then I get a call from him. I ran over a dog. The neighbor beside me had 3 dogs that like to chase vehicles. The mom and 2 pups that are less than a year old. Sometimes they come running down the driveway and other times they lay in wait. As he's driving by they jump out and one of the pups get hit. He hit brakes and almost went in the ditch. He drives a 1 ton dually with a welder on the back. The neighbors were sitting in their truck waiting for the rain to stop and saw it happen. Rally sad their daughter who's about 3 or 4 had to see it too.

I stopped and talked to the neighbor and they said the guy got out of his truck and said something like, what the hell. He started walking back and then realized the dog had died and then went back to his truck. He has dogs and I think was in shock. He feels horrible about it. Of course the neighbors think he was going too fast. His thinking is why don't you have your dogs on a leash if you know they chase vehicles. The neighbor has talked about an invisible fence but hasn't done anything yet. Oddly he has some cattle and puts up electric fence for them. Lately I've been going real slow or stopping and the dogs sometimes lose interest in chasing me. There's going to be more people coming down this road. Even though it's a dead end road it's considered a secondary highway so the speed limit is 80 kmh. The guy helping me said he going 65. The neighbors are very pizzed off with him and saying what if one of our kids were on the road etc. I'm thinking maybe put a kids at play sign or something up so people slow down but if the dogs are lose they'll still chase the vehicles. Curious what other people think with regards to having dogs that chase vehicles?

65 kph or 80 kph it makes little difference. At those speeds the dog is going to get it. Even at driveway speeds they can get it.

We have a road of similar speed in front of the house although it is a thoroughfare so plenty of traffic. We keep kids and animals far from it.

It is different with kids though, usually they move slower and they certainly don't dart out and try to catch the tires and generally stay away from cars. If not then they just stand in the road. So if a driver can see them ahead of time he will slow down or stop. Dogs are so much more active and they do more risky things.

Should dogs be kept on a leash or something so they can't chase vehicles?

Birken Vogt said:

Dogs are so much more active and they do more risky things.

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I once collected a dog while doing some low speed trimming on a grader.
It was the first time he had seen the machine and shot out to have a go at a front tyre while I was concentrating on the mouldboard.
Unfortunately, it didn’t end well for him.

Clueless pet owners are assholes. They like to blame everyone but themselves.

Welder Dave said:

Should dogs be kept on a leash or something so they can't chase vehicles?

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Yes. Leash or fence.

If their dogs are running loose then what happens to them off their property is all on them. Sad but true. If the guy drove into their yard or up their driveway and hit them that’s different. Funny thing is if their dogs ran to somebody else’s property and bit or hurt a person/animal they’d be responsible for it.

If they press the issue ask them what they’d do if somebody else’s dog was on their property chasing their animals.....

All in all it’s a bad deal they just need to take care of their pets.

We built a fence for our furry idiots for a reason. I want to keep them safe from themselves

It sucks but the blame is 100% on them for not protecting their dogs with fence or leash

^^^ YUP ^^^

^^^ Wot they said ^^^
If a dog is known to chase vehicles then unless the owner looks after it what happens if it actually manages to catch a vehicle is between the dog and the vehicle.

IMO this saying from a flight manual is somewhat adaptable to animal/vehicle interfaces ........ "In the ongoing battle between objects made of aluminium travelling at hundreds of miles/hr and the ground travelling at zero miles/hr, the ground has yet to lose."

I have nailed two dogs in my travels it sucks but I am not about to wreck a truck trying to avoid a dog

Welder Dave said:

Should dogs be kept on a leash or something so they can't chase vehicles?

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Yes. It is the owner's fault his dog is dead. I love pets, livestock, and children, and it is my responsibility to watch over and make sure they stay safe. The dog is dead because his owner didn't care enough to provide a safe place for them to play, or care enough to teach them not to chase cars.

From a liability aspect, if the dog had caused a crash, the owner is liable for negligence for allowing his dog to enter a public roadway. It's the same with livestock, provided it's not an 'open range area.

Dog owner only has himself to blame.

Junkyard said:

Yes. Leash or fence.

If their dogs are running loose then what happens to them off their property is all on them. Sad but true. If the guy drove into their yard or up their driveway and hit them that’s different. Funny thing is if their dogs ran to somebody else’s property and bit or hurt a person/animal they’d be responsible for it.

If they press the issue ask them what they’d do if somebody else’s dog was on their property chasing their animals.....

All in all it’s a bad deal they just need to take care of their pets.

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Actually the other neighbor has a dog that comes into their yard and messes with the cattle and they don't like it. That dog doesn't normally chase vehicles though unless it's visiting/playing with the other dogs. When I drive by you can't tell where the dogs are a lot of times. The neighbor was mad because the guy yelled something at him when he got out of his truck. The driver was mad because he certainly didn't want to hit a dog and almost went in the ditch. I think when he saw the dog had died he went back to his truck because he was a mess. He slammed the brakes on so hard it ripped the battery out of his welder. Just a bad accident and hopefully it doesn't affect my relationship with the neighbor. I was locking the gate otherwise I would have witnessed the whole thing. I guess when I see the neighbor again I'll just say the guy feels horrible and leave it at that. Really responsible with his cattle which makes it so unusual.

This story is sad. I always hate seeing dogs loose near the road and that's usually from my small Honda Civic. Often times there's nothing you can do but try to avoid. If a dumb dog wants to bite tires, or whatever, it's really difficult to do anything other than try to get out of the way. I like my car, and it's relatively new and nice. I was driving down a road a few weeks ago and a giant Rottweiler was kind of jogging down the road, in the grass, as I approached. I slowed down but as I did it got closer and started to chase after me. I tried, successfully, to pass him, then punch it to get far away quickly, as I didn't want it jumping up on my car if it caught up. Not to mention it was huge and could have eaten one of my kids.

I'm not sure how you can be mad at someone that hits your dog that ran wild. It's sad as can be but as everyone else said, that's what happens if you let your dog loose.

We had a dog several years ago who got hit by a guy driving down the road. This dog usually was good about going out in the back 5 acres to do his morning business. Unfortunately this morning a deer happened to catch his eye and off he went. The guy stopped and felt bad about it and even tried to let us have him pay for a new dog.

We very politely refused and made sure the dog had not damaged his car in the process.

On a somewhat strange note this guy also was one of the first people on the scene several years earlier when a guy hit me while I was pulling in my driveway with my sidecar outfit. He said he always wondered how I made out from that accident but did not like meeting me this way.

When we got the next dog(s), we had a 40 by 50 foot fenced in area for the dogs potty time and always have them on a leash when walking them. Even a well trained dog can get distracted by wildlife or such.

Don't know what it's all about but when a K-9 gets that chasing vehicles in the blood there seems to be no stopping it . Some even try to bite at the rolling tires .
Always ends bad .

On a good note … Funny story ..

We were changing blades on the bush hog one evening when a Conservation Officer pulled in the farm .

He steps out of the truck and starts complaining about how he almost hit one of our cows on the road …….

The Old Man looked at him & said " yes that's our cow you almost hit on the road we pay property tax on going though the farm ."

Now the cow is in our jurisdiction . Try to be more careful the next time .

And buy the way …. Keep your deer off our road and out of our fields " Frog Cop "

At least the Old Man was in a good mood that evening .

Deer Jaywalking and trespassing at 1:05 ….. Where's a Frog cop when ya need them ? LOL !

Lot's of people simply don't understand where responsibility should be allocated. Some think everyone should slow down to 15 MPH because they have loose dogs. Those dogs don't pay road taxes nor obey traffic laws. Drivers do and have a right to use them.

Welder Dave said:

Should dogs be kept on a leash or something so they can't chase vehicles?

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I live in FL, USA. We are a free range state.

If I am traveling down the highway in my $200,000 Mercedes and your cow goes through a fence onto the highway, I hit it and total my Mercedes, I owe you a new cow, you don't owe me ****...

I live on a 90 kmh road and my dog goes on a rope because I like him and dont want to pay for anyone's car repairs.

Funny story about car chasing dogs: I had a rented shop with a 1/4 mile oiled road leading to the gate... Total dead end road, about halfway to the gate was an old single wide trailer right on the edge of the road that had 4 mutts that ranged from a big husky to a hound looking thing. Husky was the boss dog.
The trailer folks had signs everywhere reading 10 mph even though it was not their road and called the sheriff several times about my customers going in and out. (easement was for the shop and yard)
One day I was heading back to the shop trying to honor the loser's speed limits and the mutt patrol came out in force to attack the service truck. I started grabbing gears and the mutts were hanging in at 30 mph chasing the front tire, I got to the gate and just cleared the drivers mirror on the gate post and piled the dogs up on the chainlink fence... It sounded like a Zither when they hit it.
In the end the Husky decided the others attacked him when they piled up and a cataclysmic dog fight ensued. The hair clumps lasted 3 weeks or better and the mutts never chased my truck again.

I hit a dog once. On the customer's property in his driveway. The kids were holding the dog across the way and it looked under control. I paused and then decided to start moving right when the dog got loose. It shot across the grass and I felt it in the steering wheel as it hit the right front tire of the little KW.

I thought of all the paperwork I would have to do.

The dog ran away yelping fortunately. The owner was a vet and was examining the dog's paw. He could find nothing much wrong.

I just can't figure how I felt such a thump through all the steering linkage and did not severely damage the dog.