From Comments/Updated

Perhaps you should wait on getting another dog til your family learns not to let dogs out in traffic unattended? Maybe get a fence?

See, this is the problem with the internets. Self-rightout, uninformed people feel perfectly comfortable rubbing salt in a wound.

First of all, you know GEE, I never until this moment considered how horrible it was that my dog got hit by a car. You know, to me they are just perfectly disposable. I can just pick up another at the pound, and if it gets hit by a car .... oh well. Because EVERYONE who has ever had something bad happen to their dog (whether is ran away or was hit by a car or simply got fat and had a heart attack) is a bad owner. EVERY one of them.

Same must be said for anyone who has a child that got hit by a car. Or who was in a car accident. I sure hope you've never been in a car accident, because it MUST have been your fault and you should have immediately stopped driving until you learned not to let that happen again.

Why don't you lecture me a bit more, because, you know I'm not upset enough by the experience. I care so little about my dog, and that's why we spent $12,000 trying to get her better, and that's why I nursed her every night. Cleaning up her messes, and hugging and kissing her.

For the record, when my dog was hit, she was not under my care. I was away - for one night -at a wedding. We had recently moved out to the country. On ten acres. ONE NIGHT. I thought, certainly one overnight away wouldn't be a big deal. Not long enough to take her so my sister's house (who usually watches her) because it was only ONE NIGHT. My (handicapped) father was watching her, and when he let her out to go potty (10 acre property and we're very far from the road), she decided not to listen to him. She went (unknown to him) to wait for us by the road. I think she was looking for us, really. It was a tragedy. It was a misjudgment. She wasn't ready for us to leave her at the new house (it had been a couple of weeks, but she is really devoted to us.) I certainly have never left her unattended to play in traffic. But, you know, I'll admit my mistake. She wasn't ready to be left with my dad. Even for one night. I have to live with what happened to her, and the price I paid was to lose the best dog I ever had.

If you think, somehow, that this hasn't plagued me for the weeks since it happened and that somehow your wonderful comment is enlightening on the experience ... well,than I just don't know what to say.

I do, actually. I said it in response to your comment.

Update:

Actually, there was a proper way to question my ability to be a dog owner, based on your limited knowledge of the incident. Here it is:

Oh how sad, what happened?

Or, perhaps:

How awful. How are you going to make sure such a thing doesn't happen again?

Instead, you were just mean.