It was snowing and the roads a little slick. I was pulling up to one of my
stops on a quiet residential street, my signal lights were flashing and I
was already slowing down--that's probably all that saved the dog.

It was a really beautiful Golden, I don't think it can be more than three or
four years old. I see it walking with its owner every morning and it is
never on leash. It always walks calmly along the sidewalk--except this
morning. There was something on a road, maybe a sandwich or a piece of
smelly garbage, and the dog dashed out onto the road to investigate--right
in front of my bus. The owner stood on the sidewalk calling for it to
return, but the nose had over-ridden the ears.

I'm sure that if you asked the owner, she would say that the dog *never* ran
off, that it was *peerfectly* trained. If I had of hit her dog she would
have been angry at me, and probably guilt-ridden (I hope), but the dog would
have been hurt or killed. As for me, I've had the shakes for most of the
morning just because of the near miss.

I'm not sure I believe that any dog can ever be perfectly trained enough to
walk off leash on or beside a road, but I know some of you walk your dogs
without leashes and would probably disagree with me. For now I'm just
thankful that there was an angel looking out for dogs and schoolbus drivers
this morning.

Marie