fast forward to sunday night, we took axel with us to the beach. more accurately, bryan went to the beach in the afternoon with some friends and i joined him later in the day with axel, to watch the fireworks.

we arrived around 7:30 pm and the pup was doing great. had fun playing fetch with a tennis ball in the water, running around the beach getting sand in everyone's drinks, following bryan and i around, and generally being a very good boy. he was off-leash the whole time and never strayed far. if he started to get a little lost, we'd call him and he'd come right back.

somewhere around 9 ish the first fireworks got lit off, far down the beach. at the sound and sight of the first one, he cowered a little and started looking around. by the second or third, he was thoroughly spooked and started walking quickly away. we called him, but he didn't come back. we started walking towards him, but he bolted.

across the beach to the path, down the path to the road. bryan started chasing, with me behind about 20 feet. i saw axel round the corner at the sidewalk, then heard slamming brakes and our friend nikki shriek his name as he darted into traffic on shore drive, the main drag at the beach.

when i reached the road, he had made it safely across, but only just barely. he'd missed several cars by mere inches. remarkably, he'd gone straight back to my car, parked in the parking lot across the street, where bryan and several of our friends caught up with him. somehow i'd thought to bring the leash with me when we took off down the beach, so b was able to leash him and hold him there while i ran back to the beach to grab my purse to take axel home.

the whole drive home he was shaking. every time we passed more fireworks he would sit up and start whimpering in the seat. by the time we got home, he just wanted to sit in the corner. periodically he'd nudge me and whimper, and i'd ask if he needed to go outside. instead he would dart into his crate and lay down.

i moved from the bedroom, where i'd been watching tv, into the living room to be near his crate but he spent most of the night in the corner by the front door. wouldn't even lay on the floor next to the couch, where he usually stays when we're in there.

he seems to be ok today, aside from itchy (i did give him a bath when we got home) and fighting diarrhea (prob from drinking too much salt water), but we will be leashing him immediately next time we know there will be fireworks.