Yes.... running away.... sigh.
I think it'd be good if school's had a lesson or two on dogs to teach children how to approach them, why it's important to ask the owner if they can stroke him, where not to touch them, some of the more obvious body language signals etc. With so many dogs around, every child must encounter lots of them.
A friend of mine recently brought her grandchildren to visit for a day. The little boy, who's nine, was afraid of dogs, basically because he'd never been around them and didn't understand them. All he really knew was that they have big teeth, strong jaws and can do a lot of damage. By the time he left he'd become good friends with Alf, even though I'd explained that he mustn't try to take anything away from him. He respected that and I showed him how to get Alf to go through his repotoire of tricks. I'm sure if a few dogs were taken into schools, the children would learn to respect, understand and enjoy them more.
Maybe there should be a lead with "child friendly" on it ;-)