Why

[Irulan]

Ahem, I was on foot, walking my dog, when this happened. I wasn't "inconvenienced," but it was a safety issue. The combination of the bus, parents, cars, and kids freaked out my 85lb golden. The fact that they were p*ssing around made it worse (I had to get down on the curb and hold my dog to keep her from bolting. Not one of them showed an ounce of consideration.)

I fail to see why there was a problem for you (and the dog) here. It sounds like you were on foot, and probably could have done any number of thing to extricate yourself from what you and or the dog felt was an unpleasant situation. You could have turned around, crossed the street, stopped and waited 1/2 a block away, gone around the block...Goldens (having raised several) are typically calm and good natured if well trained. If your dog is a problem in crowds or chaotic situations, perhaps you need to plan your route differently if this is going to be a regualr occurance, or get some additional training for your dog. You could view it as a training opportunity: back off to the perimeter of the situation, put the dog in a sit-stay or a lie-stay, and patiently let him/her become more accustomed to the chaos than they are now.

I plan my routes around when school gets out, regularly. Been there, done that, will go out of my way to avoid the traffic now.