Thanks to everyone for the insight and advice. My wife, who was with me in the truck at the time, had said many similar things to me before I came to the forum. I'm still having trouble dealing with this, but your comments have made it easier for me to be patient and let things take their own course with respect to my neighbor.

We live in the middle of nowhere on the top of a mountain, and the road we're on is populated by untold numbers of wildlife. Most people let their dogs run free at least some of the time because most of the mountain is empty fields. There is no leash law. On this particular trip, I had passed a squirrel that had been squashed by a car, then immediately almost clipped a huge vulture that was trying to eat it, then about a quarter mile later a small goat ran in front of my truck (I braked hard and missed it). And then the german shepherd ran out in front of me.

Over the past five months since I've moved here from downtown Washington DC (where I've never seen anything other than squirrels), I've hit three deer (the last time two at once -- it would have been six as the herd stopped right in the middle of the road, but I was going 15 miles an hour less than the speed limit), a hawk, and something I think was an owl (these last two actually swooped down on my truck, apparently trying to crash through my windshield), causing $3,000 worth of damage to my vehicles in addition to the loss of animal life (the latter bothers me more); this all has led to me travelling very slowly on the mountain, but apparently not slowly enough. I thought I was numbed to hitting animals and was starting to consider it an inevitable part of living in the wilderness (everyone suffers from these sorts of collisions here), but hitting this dog was completely different and very painful since I knew it and its owner.

Thanks again for all your comments. They have helped much.

RNS