A veteran walked into a women’s correctional facility with his service dog by his side. The moment the dog spotted a familiar face across the yard, he took off running, and the reunion that followed became the emotional center of a documentary that caught Oprah’s attention.
A Soldier Who Could Barely Leave the House
Bill Campbell, a sergeant with the Army National Guard, served in Iraq, where he sustained a traumatic brain injury from repeated exposure to roadside car bombs while on patrol. He returned home to Washington State with 100 percent disability and severe post-traumatic stress, struggling to function in daily life. For a long stretch after coming home, he could barely leave his house.
That changed when Campbell was paired with Pax, a yellow Labrador trained as a PTSD service dog. Pax became the first dog provided through the Dog Tags program, and the partnership gave Campbell a way to re-engage with the world he’d withdrawn from.
The Dog Behind Bars
Pax wasn’t trained at a conventional facility. He came through Puppies Behind Bars, a nonprofit program run inside Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in New York, where incarcerated women raise and train future service dogs. His trainer was Laurie Kellogg, an inmate serving time for killing her abusive husband.
Training Pax hit close to home for Kellogg, who had her own history of trauma. “I too had P.T.S.D. after years of domestic violence. I too had flashbacks,” she later told Campbell. “Pax knew, and he let me know I wasn’t there — I was here.”
The Reunion
Grateful for what Pax had given him, Campbell made the trip back to Bedford Hills to meet the woman responsible for training him. The moment Pax entered the grounds, something in him clearly recognized the place. His tail was already wagging as his eyes searched the yard, and when he spotted Kellogg running nearby, he sprinted toward her and showered her with kisses.
After the reunion between dog and trainer, Campbell and Kellogg greeted each other and were taken into the building where, at the time, 27 inmates worked as trainers for future service dogs. Kellogg had been given responsibility for Pax just three weeks after her father’s death, a detail that made the bond between them even more significant to her.
“He gave me back pieces of myself that I forgot even existed,” Kellogg said of the experience.
A Story That Reached a Wider Audience
The reunion was captured on film for Pax, a short documentary co-directed by actress Glenn Close and editor Sarah Harvey. The film premiered at Washington D.C.’s GI Film Festival in 2010 and later drew attention from The Oprah Winfrey Show, which featured Campbell and Kellogg’s story to a national audience.
Campbell stayed in touch with Kellogg afterward. His wife, Domenica, later said Pax helped her husband in ways that went beyond physical safety, offering him a sense of grounding during flashbacks and difficult moments.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Puppies Behind Bars?
It’s a nonprofit program that trains prison inmates to raise and train service dogs for veterans, law enforcement, and first responders, pairing structured purpose for incarcerated participants with highly trained dogs for people in need.
How do service dogs help veterans with PTSD?
Psychiatric service dogs are trained to interrupt flashbacks, provide grounding during panic or dissociative episodes, and offer consistent companionship that can ease the isolation many veterans experience after service.
Is Bedford Hills Correctional Facility still involved in service dog training?
Yes, Bedford Hills has been a long-running site for the Puppies Behind Bars program, which has trained hundreds of dogs over the decades for veterans and other handlers in need.
Can inmates stay in contact with the veterans paired with dogs they trained?
It varies by program and individual circumstance, but in this case, Campbell maintained contact with Kellogg following their reunion, a connection highlighted in the documentary covering their story.
Sources: VOA News, iHeartDogs.com, and Shared.com, all covering the Puppies Behind Bars program and the 2010 documentary Pax, directed by Glenn Close and Sarah Harvey.
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