Lost my best friend in horrible accident

[Qness81]

I'm barely functioning...I don't know how to deal with the excruciating pain I feel.

 One of my dogs,10'yr old an  Amstaff named Daphne, aka Duckling, my best friend, who shadowed me everywhere I went, ran away two nights ago and got hit by a car or a snow plow on the highway.

My 11 yr old daughter let our two dogs out for a pee on that stormy night we had ice rain mixed with snow, and forgot them for almost half an hour while I was giving her baby sister a bath.

 When she opened the back door only one dog was there and the gate to our yard was open...it's quite strange actually because normally it's the other dog that runs away and my Daphne would always stay put in the yard. 

 I searched on foot with my oldest daughter and in my truck for a while then came home to switch with my husband and then when he came back i went out driving around again for another hour.we could not find her anywhere. I barely slept that night knowing she was out in the storm but I kept telling myself someone would eventually find her, she had a tag with my number, city tag, vet tag, microchip tag....

then next day I made a post about her being missing on Facebook and someone wrote me a msg saying she'd seen a dog lying on the highway about 5 min from my house the night before and felt awful that it was too dangerous for her to stop and see if it was alive. I went to see for myself if the dog was still there figuring it would be picked up already ( after a few hours of waiting for police and spca to get back to me about whether a dog had been picked up there yet or not)

 it didn't take me long to find her, she wasn't on the highway though but on the side service road. I can't go on to explain how she was ....what she looked like ...i feel like it would be cruel of me to imprint that picture in anyone else's mind. I absolutely can not get that image out of my head. It's haunting me. All day long. All night long. In my dreams. I cry off and on all day and night. It's not making it easier for my kids I know. I try to hide it but it's hard. I know time will heal my pain but I just can't see myself thinking of her or looking at a picture of her and not seeing that horrible image of her lying there the way she was. 

[KayC]

I am so sorry you lost her, she's a beautiful dog and being a dog lover myself, I can only imagine the depth of your despair and agony.

I do want to let you know that most likely when she was struck, she probably went into shock, which would have protected her from what was to come.  The image is haunting, I know, I lost my husband to heart attack and that image stays with me.  I've learned to try to shut that off and replace it with thoughts of times we had together, you might try thought replacement as well.  She was in a good home and was loved throughout her life.  (((hugs)))
I hope this brings you comfort, The Rainbow Bridge:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcQvYh_3Atw