Motorcycle vs. Dog

This morning I got up early to get a little run in before work. I was almost finished with my first loop and turning down the main street in my neighborhood when I saw a bunch of people standing around and cars pulled over. I slowed down to see what happened and saw a man lying in the middle of the road with a motorcycle laying nearby. I stopped, introduced myself and asked if I could help (obviously, the answer was yes). I started talking to the patient and noticed two little black legs on the other side of the motorcycle... two little legs that looked a lot like Shadow's. I couldn't help but glance over every now and then and wonder. I knew he was crated, I knew he was in the house, but by God, it looked like my dog.

I continued to work on the patient who said that he never even saw the dog... it was all black and was still darkish out. He felt so bad... he said he's never hit anything before and that he's never fallen off his bike. He had some pain in the rib area and on his shoulder, but was otherwise stable and coherent. I kept him down and continued talking to him (and monitoring him) until the firefighters got there.

Some fantastic neighbors had stopped to help, including one that was standing near the dog. It was clearly dead (insides don't belong on the outside) and as I walked around the bike, I just got this terrible feeling in my stomach. Seriously, I know my dog and his body. This looked like him. Honestly, it could have been his twin. It had the same fur, same build, even the same head (lab shaped, but a little smaller). I lifted his front paws up so that I could see his chest (Shadow has a little white spot on his), but couldn't really tell. I then thought to look at his paws - most vets take off a dog's dew claws (they're where the dogs thumbs would be), but Shadow still has his. This dog did not. The neighbor that was standing nearby said he thought the dog belonged to the people just down the street and that their fence had blown over in the storm. It wasn't wearing tags otherwise I would have walked over to the people's house.

Needless to say, I don't think I've ever run faster to get home. And I hugged my dog like he's never been hugged before. I can't imagine how those people must be feeling (or if they even know... and honestly, I don't know which is worse). I'm glad I could be there to help the patient, but I wish there was something more we could have done for the dog.