What a terrible position to be in...the driver...damned if you stop and damned if you don't.

I witnessed a dog being hit by a speeding milk truck when I was just six years old - it wasn't even my dog, yet the memory and a bit of heartache has stayed with me for 50 years.

This was a terrible accident that probably could have been avoided, but no one should be deemed "guilty" or "blamed". They will punish themselves enough I'm sure. Yes, the dog should have been on a leash. Yes, the driver should have stopped.

What matters here are little kids who witnessed the death of their pet - a trauma that no one, especially a child should have to endure.

Even if the driver was not at fault, the right thing to do would have been to stop and express his or her concern, however, maybe the driver does not have a conscience, or does not know right from wrong ~ Maybe when he was a child, someone ran over his dog, and just kept on driving . . . so he thinks it is okay . . .

Two seperate sets of adults (the parents and the driver who accidently hit the dog)  need to learn an important life-lesson:

What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of a difference you want to make.

These poor children have not only witnessed their family pet dying needlessly, right in front of them; the children were also were forced to see another terrible example, that of "responsible" adults, being incredibly thoughtless in their collective actions. 

What an awful event to happen for all parties involved. I have to agree whole heartedly with what DonMar said. Both sets of adults set bad examples. I feel so sad for the children who know longer have their beloved dog and have to live with the memory of seeing what happened.

DonMar- I love that saying. Do you mind if I borrow it?

Caninecreek wrote :   " My employee and I dodged traffic to retrieve the little dog's body from the street for the family"

It's very possible that by trying to stop, the driver may have caused an accident .     I don't like  to think the worst of people without knowing all of the facts so I believe that the person who hit the dog is suffering along with everyone else.  This is a sad situation for all but let's hope a lesson was learned.

I am amazed at the numbers of people who are okay with thumbing their noses at the law.  If you damage someone's property then you are obliged by our California Vehicle Code to stop and make an attempt to find the owner.  It does not matter if you were at fault or not.  Brush up on your driving rules.  The driver damaged another person's property and fled the scene.  Hitting the dog was not a crime but fleeing was!  This is no different than sideswiping another car and fleeing the scene.  Even if the car was illegally parked and you were not at fault the law says you must stop. 

Yes, the dog should have been on a better lead.  Yes, the family should have had control over the dog.  Yes, a loose dog is in violation of Kern County ordinance.  Yes, the family was trying to do the right thing by getting their dogs vaccinated.  Yes, there was a language barrier.  Yes, they probably thought the dogs would be okay because they're so good at home.  None of this excuses the driver who killed the dog and fled the scene.  All the driver had to do was pull over and say "I'm sorry". 

Yea, and if you hit a raccoon (or any wild animal) and injure it but not kill it, the law says you must stop and call the aspca, but honestly, who is going to do that?

Would you like to face three little kids who just saw their dog get run over and killed? I know I wouldn't. I don't think that you can compare hitting a dog to hitting a car. If the dog was small enough the driver might not have even known he/she had hit it. It's not like that dog was one of the kids. The dog is dead and it isn't coming back, if I was one of those children, there wouldn't be anything that the driver could say or do that would make me feel any better. Do you wish many nasty things on this driver because the law was broken or because a dog was killed? Unless the driver intentionally swerved to hit the dog, I don't see why a bunch of bad things should happen to him or her.

TK do you follow the law to the letter all the time? Do you make rolling stops at stop signs? Do you speed? Because everytime you do, you're "thumbing your nose at the law." My point being that no one follows the "insignificant" laws when they think that they can get away with it. It might be honorable to do what is right, but doing what is easier is usually more rewarding.

So if you'd have gotten the lp #, would you have been an a-hole and reported the driver and caused even more difficulties or would you have minded your own business while still feeling sorry that the unfortunate event even happened?

TK why did you think the driver of the car owes the children an apology.You said that all the driver had to do was pull over and say I' m sorry. Why ? If all the driver was doing was driving down the road minding his own business and a dog runs out onto the road and gets hit then why would the driver need to apologize for something that was not his fault. Should the driver have stopped  ? did he know he hit a the dog ? Should the dog owners had the dog restrained ? Should canine creek require all dogs to be restrained when entering or leaving their store ? Whos at fault ?

As clarification, Canine Creek does require all pets to be in carriers, on tie-downs in the tubs, or on leash at all times while in the store.  The family was waiting outside, on the building's front porch, for their turn to see the vet when the incident occurred.  We make every effort to encourage responsible pet ownership (which includes use of a leash), but unfortunately we can't control what people do outside our store.  If my staff had seen the dog running loose in the parking lot, we would have asked them to leash the dog.  We loan leashes for use on the property if owners don't have one.  It still amazes me how many dog owners in Tehachapi don't even OWN one.  This was a preventable accident and, hopefully, one that all involved will learn from.

Thanks Canine creek  for the clarification and explanation of what happened. I have heard nothing but good things said about canine creek.  Other local businesses could benefit from your example. This was a bad deal and accidents happen. There is a lesson to be learned.