Black As Pitch

Riddle: While driving home after work, I ran into this problem. A whole village had been painted black; the roads, pavement, buildings, shrubs, and everything that didn't move had been painted pitch black. On top of that, my car's headlights weren't working, no moon could be seen, and power was out in the area, so there were no street or house lights at all. At that very moment, I entered a curve where a solid black dog (dumb as a rock, so not smart enough to dodge the approaching car) was sitting in the road. He had his back to me, so there was not even a glimmer in his eyes, yet I was able to swerve round him easily and without any danger. How was this possible?