This afternoon as we headed out to run errands we came upon an elderly man standing outside his SUV with a large dog on the ground beside his vehicle in the turning lane of a four-lane highway. Ronnie saw him first and said “Oh no. OH NO.” He did a U-turn but there was nowhere to park so I said “Let me out”. He did and then went to pull over and park. In the meantime several people were stop…ping. We pretty much had a four-lane highway blocked at this point with so many caring people that wanted to help.Someone hit the dog and left. The elderly man came along and had stopped to take him out of the road. He was still alive when he moved him, but barely. He was a big dog, a Rottweiler and Shepherd mix. He appeared to be well taken care of, an older dog. Not a mark on him he looked to be asleep, but his eyes were open. I knew what that meant. I reached down to squeeze his chest to check for a breath. Someone reminded me to be careful. I knew there was no danger. I reached towards his eyes and tapped the eyelids and there was nothing. He was gone.

He had two collars, a wireless fence controller and his regular collar. Some people were calling animal control and others calling the police to get him picked up. Everyone was trying to help in some way. I have volunteered at the humane society for a long time so I did what we did with all lost dogs. I reached for his rabies tag and called the vet. They would know his family and were best equipped to get in touch with them, if they could.

Ronnie dialed the vet’s number and handed me the phone. It was hard to see the numbers through the tears, but I gave them his rabies ID number. They asked “Is this a Rottweiler?” I said, “Yes”. She became upset and said she had just written his name on the back of his rabies tag the other day. I saw the black writing on the back, but couldn’t make it out.

About this time, an SUV came up and a maybe 40ish looking man with graying hair got out of the car heading cautiously towards us. We could pretty much tell by his ashen face that this was his dog. I told the vet’s office he was here and hung up. He asked, “Is he okay? He just jumped over the fence. Why would he jump over the fence?”

Gently the mostly female crew told him “No, he’s gone, we’re so sorry”. The man looked like he was in shock and he came up and knelt over the dog’s head and just bowed his head in his hand. We all gathered around him and I think we all had a hand on his back as we told him how sorry we were that it could have happened to any of us.

All he could say was “My kids”. He didn’t need to say anything else we knew what he meant.

His phone rang and it was obviously someone from home. He said in a positive tone, “I’ve got him.” He just looked at us. There was no need to tell them over the phone. We all understood that too.

Ronnie went to get a blanket out of the car that we had Sam lying on yesterday when he went to the vet. The dog’s owner and Ronnie wrapped him up in the green flannel blanket and they lifted him into the back of his SUV.

As much as I will never understand the person who hit him and LEFT, I admire so much this elderly man that had gotten him out of the road. He did the most honorable thing for this family. Then all the nice people that stopped. They were so compassionate.

Before I left, I hugged the man that got him out of the road and thanked him for caring. I could feel him shaking.

It will be a sad night and then some for this family and I have no idea who they are, but I know they loved a dog named Kupa.

Please Please keep an eye on your pets with the fireworks this evening.