So I came home from chilling with a few of my friends earlier tonight going my usual route. No big deal, I could drive home from work in my sleep if I had to (and practically have, many times; same route I take to work, practically). So I'm about two blocks or so away from my neighborhood, it's not quite as dense as the center of town is, but it isn't quite residential. Not so many cars on the road seeing as its about ten or so. I'm doing about forty-five, give or take (probably give). A little farther down the road, on the other side there's this large black dog just trotting down the street, probably not paying any mind to where he's going.
Suddenly he just darts out into traffic and runs right in front of me. I start laying on my horn and my brakes, and the stupid thing just stops, like a deer in the headlights. So I probably would have missed him if he'd kept going, but apparently, this stupid thing isn't moving, so I swerve to try and avoid him, but I was way to close to begin with, and brakes+swerving=spinout. I hadn't gotten my nose out of the way in time, and just at the last second, this dog decides that he's in danger and starts to move, but he didn't jump in time, and my right front bumper just freakin' walloped him straight in the ass and sent him FLYING.
Now this is a big dog, not necessarily tall, but he's big, I'd say the size of a German Shepherd (It wasn't. I couldn't tell what it was, and it had no tag, so I assume it was just a stray.), and I hit this guy so hard that his butt carried him AIRBORNE, a line drive right into the concrete base of a lamppost. Damn thing never had a chance.
Anyway, long story short, I pulled into a nearby covenience store, called the police (local number, who then directed me to animal control, who, I assume got rid of the carcass) and then went back outside to inspect the damage (this is in the Cobalt, btw).
Surprisingly, as hard as I hit it, the only real damage is a broad scuffmark on the bumper's strike face and a few scratches along the rise between the headlight and the grille--I guess where his back claws and $h! hit it (Boy I heard them scrape)-- but surprisingly, it's nothing that won't buff out. However, hitting a dog that large did cause just a tiny bit of sag between the front bumper and the headlight. there's not a bit of sag between the fascia and the fender however, I think it **could** have been a bit distorted or something. I can just barely wriggle my fingertips in between the fascia and the headlight. Anybody know any way I could fix that problem? I mean it's not really that obvious, but it'd be best to fix it. I dunno if rainwater getting in there could screw anything up or rust anything.