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March 19, 2008

Serving those who served

pax.jpg

Sgt. Bill Campbell returned from Iraq with some horrifying memories -- so horrifying that he was unable to leave his house.

Campbell says his post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms -- anxiety, depression, nightmares, hallucinations, memory loss and exaggerated startle response -- made everyday life virtually unbearable, until he met Pax, a 17-month-old yellow Labrador, specially trained to help him cope with PTSD.

(AP Photo/Dave Delozier KUSA TV)

Pax does everything from reminding him to take his medication to coaxing him out of his house. "Pax forces me to go out," Campbell told ABCNEWS.com. "He has to go for walks."

Pax was donated to Campbell by the New York-based nonprofit organization Puppies Behind Bars, which has provided service dogs to individuals with disabilities since 1997, but just recently expanded their program to include war veterans.

Campbell, 46, returned in 2005 from from Iraq, where he had been hit with shrapnel in his hand and head, causing nerve damage and traumatic brain injury.

Pax is the first dog to be deployed by Puppies Behind Bar's new initiative "Dog Tags: Service Dogs for Those Who've Served Us." He knows more than 50 different commands. He warns Campbell of strangers or possible dangers, clears crowded areas and provides a reality check when Campbell gets lost in hallucinations or nightmares.

To read the ABC report, click here.

Posted by John Woestendiek at 2:08 PM | | Comments (0)
        

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About Jill Rosen
Jill Rosen is a reporter at The Baltimore Sun. During her nearly 20 years in journalism, she has covered news and features — including a surprising number of stories that involved animals. There were the dog Christmas carolers in State College, Pa. There were the hounds who toured with a production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The story of a preschool teacher at Baltimore’s Father Kolbe School who had to replace her class guinea pig, who died over the winter holiday. A harrowing tale of what it was like to make homemade pet food ...

Though her clean freak of a mother refused to allow her to get a dog, she has had a number of pets through the years, including goldfish named Bob and Fingle, a betta fish named Ichabod, a wild rat terrier named Wendel, who she shared with a roommate, and, currently, sweet, sweet kitties named Leo Sesame and Milo Pumpkin and a little rescued pup named Teddy Bean. She, Leo, Pumpkin and Teddy Bean live in Baltimore.
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