This article is about a fortuitous “premonition” I had many years ago in which I accidentally killed a dog.

I don’t believe in the paranormal, but I do love the stories. Nevertheless, I have had a few “odd” experiences in my life.

This is one of them.

I didn’t own a car during my first year in California, so I would periodically rent one for weekend excursions from the nearby Enterprise. I’d pay for the car, and then the rental agent and I would go over the car to agree upon existing damage and scuff marks, then I would take the keys and drive away.

Usually this was uneventful.

But one Friday as I took the keys from the rental agent and prepared to leave, as soon as I made contact with the car to open to door, I had what I guess could be called a “premonition.”

“I will hit and kill a dog with this car” was the thought that suddenly entered my mind.

The thought of killing any animal with a car is very distressful to me. I’ve hit a few rabbits and squirrels in my time (which was bad enough), but never a beloved pet that someone would miss.

I could not exorcise this thought. It kept invading my mind.

That first night with the car I dreamt of the dog. He was built along the same lines as a german shepherd (i.e. same size and erect ears) but with longish shaggy dark grey hair. I don’t remember the dream directly. This was over a decade ago and this is the memory of a memory. I don’t remember any other details.

The next day I went on a long hike and managed to forget about the dog for awhile. But as I drove home the dog entered my mind again.

I was driving down a winding forested road, thinking about the dog. Suddenly a large dog ran out in front of me. Under other circumstances, I think I would have hit it. But because I was thinking about a dog running out in front of me my reflexes were primed and ready for it. I hit the breaks and slowed down enough that I didn’t hit the dog. It ran off sheepishly into the forest.

This wasn’t the dog from my dream. It was a Rottweiler. But it was dark and about the same size.

I don’t believe that this was a premonition since I don’t believe in such things. It was likely a form of confirmation bias. You see, I frequently feel anxious about doing certain things. I might think “I should drive to work this way because that way feels bad.” But when I ignore these feelings, nothing bad does happen. I’ve largely come to accept that my anxieties are unproductive emotions.

I think that my worries about hitting and killing a dog were just a random manifestation of my natural anxieties, and the fact that I nearly did hit a dog just fortified my memory of the event. I.e. I’ve probably experienced many other “false premonitions” that I have forgotten since nothing came of them.

Either way though, I’m glad I didn’t hit and kill that dog.