There was every reason for you to respond like you did. If your telling was accurate, you tried to be resonable, then you responded with roughly the same level of antagonism as she did.

If you had given in to her demands and slinked away, I would be a lot that the next time she saw you she'd threaten to call the police on you just for walking there.

Why in the world would you not walk your boyfriend's dog again? Implicitly you are giving in to the yelling lady's bullying tactic.

My theory is that people in the western world are very much on edge becauase economically shit is hitting the fan for higher income people, particularly higher income white people. Up until 2008 it was POC and the poor who were financially screwed in the west.

Under stress, people become more of what they are. Bullies become bigger bullies. Like "screaming lady." Giving in to bullies only emboldens them.