Waiting for the Woof

Yellow Labrador Helps His Owner to Recover Following Injuries in Iraq

By EMILY FRIEDMAN
March 19, 2008 ABC News

Until recently, Sgt. Bill Campbell’s horrifying memories from his tour of duty in Iraq left him unable to leave his house.

Constantly fearing he would be attacked from behind — a paranoia stemming from his violent tour of duty — Campbell says his post traumatic stress disorder symptoms made everyday life virtually unbearable.

That is, until he met Pax, a now 17-month-old yellow Labrador, specially trained to help him cope with PTSD, doing 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 N.Y.-based non-profit organization Puppies Behind Bars, an organization that has provided service dogs to individuals with disabilities since 1997, but just recently expanded their program to include war veterans, too.

[--MORE--]

Turtlemom Sez: Just wow!! When you read the whole article, be sure you click on the photo gallery and look at all those wonderful pics of Pax helping Sgt. Campbell get out in the community and out in the out-of-doors! These are things that only a few weeks ago were impossible for him to do! I’m so happy for this guy I started crying as I read the article!! Puppies Behind Bars is a great program, but so is PAALS! So please don’t forget to support PAALS for me!!