Who let the dogs out?

Two weeks ago while I was driving the kids to school, two dogs were playing on the side of the road. At one point they came out onto the road and I had to brake sharply causing my tires to squeal lightly. The dogs saw me, looked scared and ran away from the road.

Ok. So I was driving the kids to school today, like I do every morning. I came around a turn to see a black dog lying there on the side of the road. As soon as he saw me he got up and started to slowly walk into the road. I thought he was going to chase me like a lot of dogs do. Jason always preaches to me that when a dog is chasing you, don't swerve, just keep on going and you will not hit them. But this dog didn't go to chase me, he just kept walking slowly toward the center of the road. I braked slightly at first but ended up having to slam on the brakes. My tires squealed and I could smell burnt rubber. Even then, it seemed like I had almost hit him with the corner of the van(If the bumper didn't actually touch him, it was a miracle). I pulled over and looked at him and he seemed to be fine.

He looked at me as if to say"Hey! You almost hit me! Watch where you're going!".

And I was like, "Hey! Do you have a death wish or something?". I swear the dog was trying to commit suicide.

The kids were like "Cool Mom. You just burnt rubber!".

I started to drive again when I noticed the brake line was lit up and there was an exclamation point. (!) Seriously? When there is an exclamation point lit up on the dash of your car, that can't be good. Then I put my foot on the brake and it went straight to the floor. Nope, definitely not good. I managed to get the kids to school, but then was scared to leave because of the big freaking hill that it's on. I didn't dare try driving down that with Abby in the back seat, when I wasn't sure how much or if any brakes that I had.

Forgetting it was down day, I tried calling Jason at work, but of course he wasn't there. On down day he isn't in his usual spot, they can put him anywhere in the mill. So I called Mom and of course, Dad was already gone to work. So I had no choice but to call Jason's father, who of course, had just recently thrown his back out. He drove up to the school to check things out. Turns out I busted a brake line. Of course I did. He drove my van home while Abby and I followed in his car. When we were almost home, yet another dog ran out and started to chase me. Following Jason's advice, I held my breath and zoomed past him.

What is with the freaking dogs in the rapids? I swear they are going to give me a heart attack. I mean who wants to hit a dog? Not me. Especially not when the kids are in the van with me. It could totally be a dog that belongs to one of their friends at school. That would be a nice racket.

Anyway, so now here I sit, without a working vehicle, hoping that today isn't the day I get a call from the school asking me to come and pick up my child. Of course that's not going to happen.....right?