[SessyRocks]

Earlier today I took my dogs for a walk, like I do every day. I have a girl chihuahua mix and a boy dachshund mix (she's spayed, he's neutered so never had puppies). I let them both off the leash like I do every day when we walk along the canal. They are both great on their recall. They know they are supposed to follow me when off leash. I don't know what happened today but Shorty, my boy dog, ran across the street in front of traffic to the park. He must have seen another dog or a cat or something. I didn't want to call him to me, because I didn't want him crossing traffic again. He had managed to get across just fine. So I went to the crosswalk and went to the park. But when I got there I didn't see him and this lady told me if I was looking for a dog because one had just gotten hit by a car across the street by the canal. My heart sank. I saw a small white truck pulled over. I didn't bother with using the cross walk to get through that time. I just ran through the traffic. Shorty was standing away from the truck in the grass. He just looked shaken up. I asked the lady that hit him to give me a ride home. Once at home I treated his wounds, he doesn't have anything broken thank God. He's walking when he has to, but for the most part he is just laying down. He has these cuts on the underside of his stomach. I treated those with hydrogen peroxide and I gave him sugar water to keep him from going into shock. I also have aspirin specially made for dogs and I'm giving it to him for the pain. When he walks he uses all of his legs, so I think he's just really sore, which of course is understandable. He's alert, he's laying on the floor in the family room. He has his head up watching and listening to everything and he wags his tail if you talk to him. He's also eating normally. He ate some spagetti with dog food earlier. I feel so bad though. I know this was all my fault. I should have never let either of them off of the leash. I know better. It was stupid of me. I will NEVER let my dogs off leash again unless we're in a fenced in area. I hope that I can use this experience to educate other people that let their dogs walk off leash. It's not safe. Not matter how well your dog follows you or comes back when called. All it takes is one time for your dog to get distracted by something away from you for it to get hit by a car.