I have a chocolate lab named Charlie, who adopted us a few months ago shortly after our own chocolate Lab of thirteen years, Max, fell victim to a hit and run by a thoughtless driver.
Charlie turned out to be a car chaser and ended up getting run over last week. It was the most heart wrenching thing ever. I heard him get hit and my husband saw it happen. He said Charlie rolled underneath the car 3 times (actually a Cadillac Escalade). I heard what sounded like someone running over a large wooden crate. It was the most horrific sound ever. My husband said the driver had to have seen Charlie running toward him, but didn't slow down. Actually, my neighbor said the driver sped up.

Let me give you just a little back story about Charlie and Max. Max had to be the greatest dog who ever lived. He was almost completely deaf, and half blind. Plus he was epileptic. In his younger days he loved to chase balls, Frisbees, plastic drink bottles, etc…. When he got killed it crushed my family. He had become our four-legged son. Max died June 15th, 2011. My two oldest daughters were traveling to the grocery store about five months ago, when this dog wandered into the road and stopped in front of their car. My oldest daughter said it was like he wanted them to run him over. Well, of course they did not. Instead, they stopped and got out. This poor dog had been tied to something via a rope and had gnawed his way free. The girls said the rope around his neck was so tight he was choking.

Needless to say, they brought the dog home, but no groceries. Upon closer examination of Charlie, we found him infested with fleas, he was nothing but skin covering bones, and the hair had all rubbed off his neck from the tightness of his rope.

We bathed, fed and kept the dog. Even if his owners would have wanted him back, we would never have given him to them. We later found out they had moved away and left Charlie for dead.
Over time we discovered IDENTICAL traits to Max. They shared everything in common all they way to Charlie having seizures. God sent us this dog to ease our pain.

We live in the country, so you would think our animals would be perfectly safe. WRONG! There are cruel and inhumane people out there who purposely run over any animals they see near the road. It’s a sad but true fact.

It was the evening of August 15th when Charlie got hit. He lay in the middle of the road on his side, all four legs sticking straight out and he appeared to be stiff as a board. My husband yelled three agonizing words and my heart instantly fell. “Charlie is dead!” My youngest daughter (works at the humane society) heard our screams and ran outside. When she got to him she screamed, "He's alive!" My husband just new Charlie would only live a few minutes due to the way he rolled under the SUV.
I made him go get a blanket to wrap him in to keep him warm and keep him from going into shock. My husband and daughter carried him into the front yard and Charlie just lay perfectly still, eyes wide open.

After a minute or two, he started gasping and my husband said, "He probably has internal injuries. He won’t live." Charlie stopped gasping and began breathing a little more normally. He tried to raise up, but couldn't. My husband then said, "He must have broken his back or hips. It doesn't look good."
We all stayed by Charlie's side and he continued fighting. As it grew dark I told them we should bring him inside. At first, my husband didn't want to because he was contemplating shooting him, only because he thought Charlie was suffering. Our hearts were breaking.

We did finally carry him inside when he continued to stabilize and placed him on the kitchen floor. He didn’t budge for about an hour, then slowly, he inched his way off the blanket and onto a cool place on the kitchen floor. That's where Charlie stayed for the remainder of the evening.
Around ten p.m. I decided I couldn't do anything more for him and should try to get some sleep. I always take a Ziploc bag of Fruit Loops with me to bed. Charlie tried to get up when he heard that bag of fruit loops rattle, so, I called him, "Come on Charlie. Lets go to bed." (He sleeps on the floor beside my bed at night) I shook the bag. He heard it and raised up onto his front legs, his big brown eyes staring at me, or maybe the bag of Fruit Loops, but he didn't stand. I called him again, then turned and padded down the hallway. The next thing I knew, Charlie had stood and hobbled down the hallway behind me. He made it to my room, then quickly collapsed beside the bed. I placed a pile of Fruit Loops next to him and he actually ate every one.

Afterward, I gave him some pain medicine. He still had some blood coming from his face and what we thought was his nose and mouth. My husband said, "He's probably got internal injuries." At four o'clock the next morning Charlie woke me up to go outside. Even though he limped, he seemed to have no trouble going up/down the steps and no trouble doing his business. Later that morning I told my husband about Charlie using the bathroom just fine, and he said, "Ah, I knew he'd be fine."
Charlie lives, and if he didn't have three big gashes on his head and a little road rash, you would never know he'd been hit. Not even a limp.  Maybe I should change his name to Miracles...lol.