Not all new friends you make when you move to a new place are human. Take Knothead for instance. Knothead was a “good ol’” hound dog that we met when we rented our first home in Millbrook, Alabama in 2004.

He was the friendliest dog. He acted just as I imagined a hound dog would act — ambling whenever he walked or plopped on the concrete for his naps.

We first met Knothead when we went to see the house we were thinking about renting. Since we were new people, he felt the need to wander across the street and say hello. His owner told us he got his name because he truly is a knot head. He’d been hit by cars a few times and one of his front paws was askew because of this.

One of our favorite Knothead stories is when his owners brought a new puppy into the mix. The puppy was a female black Labrador. Beautiful dog, but she got into everything. I might mention here the neighbors did not chain up either dog.

The puppy, whose name I don’t recall, would follow me on my walks around the neighborhood. And she was a thief. Once, when a utility worker came to my home, she left her shoes on the front porch because it had been raining and they were muddy.

When the worker came out, the shoes were gone. The puppy had taken them. The owner went around the neighborhood every so often to return items the puppy confiscated.

Anyway, Knothead was less than thrilled about this puppy development. As his owner told us, he found the puppy wandering along the side of one of the main roads in town, a couple of miles from our neighborhood. After picking up the puppy, he saw Knothead almost to our subdivision. Apparently, Knothead was trying to lead the puppy away so she would get lost. It didn’t work, but shortly after that incident, the owner re-homed the puppy.

Knothead even helped us find baby squirrels that blew out of their nest during Hurricane Ivan. Of course, his intentions and ours were quite different, but we were able to save all three babies, who didn’t even have their eyes open yet.

We frequently wonder what happened to Knothead and if he is still alive. He was one of our more unique neighbors, but he was our friend.

Until next time,

Vicki

Do you have any stories about four-legged neighborhood friends? Tell me about them.

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Victoria Terrinoni is the author of the new book, Where You Go, I Will Go: Lessons From a Military Spouse available here or by clicking the Shop tab above.