From Hidden Brain Media, I'm Shankar Vedantam.

This is My Unsung Hero, stories where one person reached out to help another in a time of need.

My unsung hero is my therapist.

He said, it's okay.

I still love you.

You're still my best friend.

So if she hears this, I just want to say,

thank you. Today's story comes from Lara Friedman. Lara and her partner have a Rottweiler

named The Dude. He's a big dog, but he's sweet and usually easy to walk. However, the dude is terrified of fireworks,

which posed a problem this past July

when Lara was taking him for an evening stroll around 9.30 p.m.

And out of nowhere, fireworks started.

I mean, they were like right on top of us.

You could smell them.

And the dude flipped out.

He went into total panic mode,

flight mode. And so I weigh about 135 pounds. He weighs almost 120. And it was slippery. It had been raining. And he is just going to drag me. And I realized there is no way I can get the two of us home safely.

And I'm standing in front of a house just frozen. And the fireworks keep going off. And a guy walks

by, I'm pretty sure his name was Blake in my panic. I don't really remember his name. And he said,

hey, poor dog, he seems scared. And he tried to comfort the dude a little bit. And I started to cry. I don't cry a lot. It was weird. And he said, are you okay? And I said, I can't get him home safely. And, you know, there another firework went off. And he said, would it help if I walked you home, I can try to help control him. And I said,

oh, that's sort of, I feel weird saying this, but yes, that would be helpful. So he went to check in his house, and then he came back with a friend, and the two of them tried to help me hold the dude, but it was really hard. And we couldn't figure out how I was going to get him home. and Blake says, well, you know, I have a car.

When do you get into a car?

...