And if you lived around Jervis and Berry streets, especially in the early 1970s there was a pretty fair chance you knew of Spoofy.

Described as the “alpha dog” of the area, he would often be seen wandering the streets doing “his patrols”.  He wasn't vicious but instead a loveable rogue.

And for one visiting British navy family he proved a godsend and somewhat of a saviour as they made their new home in Nowra for a two year posting.

So much so that 40 odd years later retired Commander Tony Holt wrote a book about the gregarious canine.

Simply entitled Spoofy, published in 2012, it tells of Tony and his wife Irene and their daughter Rebecca’s time in Nowra, his many adventures while flying at HMAS Albatross and onboard HMAS Melbourne, but the book always seems to come back to Spoofy as the central character.

The book has been a hit in the UK.

I knew and grew up with and loved Spoofy. Even if his powerful lab tail would knock me over as a youngster.

He was originally owned by my former neighbours and longtime family friends Gordon and Sip Edgecombe and their then two children Scott and Buffy.

But first let’s go back to the start.

Spoofy was born in the late 1960s in southern NSW, one of about eight pups.

Few would dream of in a few short years he would be one of the best known and most loveable dogs in Nowra.

Gordon Edgecombe was based at HMAS Albatross and the family came to own Spoofy after answering a free to a good home ad in a local supermarket.

Spoofy came with his own problems. He suffered eczema, which flared in the hot humid weather and he often required frequent treatment.

There were visits to the vet, where he would often have his back shaved and had to be washed in a special shampoo - something he detested.

He also suffered a fungus problem in his feet and could often be seen being taken for walks with bandages or even baby booties on his feet covered in plastic bags.

I got to relive many of those memories when Tony and his wife Irene visited Nowra last week and caught up with Gordon Edgecombe, the first time the had reunited since 1973, when the Holts had returned to England and Gordon and his family was on exchange in the UK.

“I was over here on loan from the RN, Spoofy really was a saviour for us,” Tony said.

“When we left the UK we had to leave our border collie Bobby behind. It was tough.”

Their daughter Rebecca was born just three weeks before deploying down under.

Arriving in Nowra they stayed at the White House before settling in Berry Street, next to Mr Booth.

“Spoofy really adopted us,” Tony said.

“One day Irene was out at a local park walking with Rebecca in a stroller and he [Spoofy] shadowed her all the way, albeit from a distance. Irene was worried he might be vicious and made her way home quickly.

“Not long after he arrived at our house which was just around the corner from Gordon and Sips.

“We got to know him.

“When news they had been posted to the UK we offered to look after him while they were away.

“It was a match made in heaven.

“Never did we think we would find a dog that would affect us so much while on our stay but Spoofy did and now the UK knows all about that big black lab from a little place called Nowra.”

Spoofy had a habit of going wandering. Be it early in the morning or late at night.

“He would just do a patrol of the area which invariably included stealing a bone or two from the local neighbourhood dogs,” Tony said.

“I would let him out for his nightly constitutional and often he wouldn’t come back,” Irene said.

“I would lay in bed wondering where he was, if he was okay. After an hour I would go and try and find him.

“So here I would be in a coat over my pyjamas walking the streets of Nowra in the early hours of the morning calling out for Spoofy.”

Tony even woke one night to find his wife missing and went searching around the local neighbourhood to find her.

“There she was a few streets away calling for Spoofy,” Tony laughed.

Invariably when they would get home after an unsuccessful search, Spoofy would be sitting on the front or back verandah with a look on his face as if to say “where have you been.”

But he was also a protector of his area, and particularly “his family”  something Gordon reiterated.

“My brother’s family was staying with us in Jervis Street and I was woken by a banging on the front door about 3am,” he said.

“I answered the door and there was my brother who had arrived back from Sydney - ‘what are you doing?’ I asked ‘why didn’t you just come in the back door, you know it’s always open?’

“He told me he got the backdoor open about six inches and all he could see was teeth. There was no growling or barking just a row of teeth looking at him.”

“That was just Spoofy, protecting his patch.

“He was like that. If there was a knock at the front door and I went to answer it, he would raise his head from his slumber and say ok and leave me too it.  If Sip went, he was up next to her side.

“It was a great comfort considering I was away a lot with my job flying or at sea, to know he was there.”

There are tales of encounters with snakes, battles with an overzealous landlady and even how he would hide out in the Holts’ old Holden when he wasn’t allowed inside. A window left down and he would be in the back of the car turning into a comfortable kennel for himself.

But Spoofy was also a softy.

As a kid you could almost do anything to him.

“He loved cuddling with the kids,” Gordon said “or just a good old fashioned pat.”

“He put up with so much,” Irene said “Rebecca would climb all over him. She even used him as stepping stone trying to get things of the kitchen bench.

“He would just take it. It never worried him.

“As long as he got the leftover food scraps she dropped for him from her highchair he was fine.

“Rebecca even used to get into his food bowl and feed this massive dog small food portions by hand. A dog who had a veracious appetite and hoed down his food would just sit there and put up with it.”

Or there was the time Spoofy disappeared for four days, with the Holts starting to fear the worse.

“How would we tell the Edgecombes thousands of miles away in England something had happened to their beloved dog?”

Searches of the nearby neighbourhood and further afield around Nowra were fruitless.

“Have you tried the pound?” someone asked.

“What’s a pound?” asked the UK visitors, who were quickly put in touch with the animal shelter and yes they had Spoofy.

The story goes a bitch had been on heat at the top end of Kinghorne Street, a fair hike from his normal stomping ground.

Spoofy was one of 20 dogs on a woman’s front lawn. She called the dog catcher who came and rounded up all the dogs, leaving Spoofy as the only one left.

“What about him?” said the woman.

“Oh that’s just Spoofy he won’t hurt anyone,” came the reply.

Insisting he also be taken proved another problem with all the cages in the back of the truck full.

Not deterred the dog catcher opened the front door and in jumped Spoofy, proudly sitting on the front seat in charge of all he could see.

When the Holts arrived at the pound, there was Spoofy following the dog catcher around like the master of the house, while all his fellow romeos were securely locked away.

On one occasion when we looked after Spoofy I remember my mum taking him for a walk, complete with his booties and plastic bags.

The neighbours thought my Mum had gone mad, while the neighbouring kids loved it and would laugh.

Gordon also spoke of their heartfelt reunion with Spoofy when they finally arrived back in Australia.

“We pulled up at the people who were looking after him when Tony and Irene had returned home. I got out of the car and he saw it was me and shot straight for us. Sip had opened the front door by that stage and he was straight in and sitting up on Sip’s lap lavishing her in licks. I’d hate to think what would have happened if she hadn’t opened the door. I feel he would have just crashed through it,” he said.

Spoofy is also a wonderful journey back in time. Tony talks about some of the people of Nowra at the time and many of the characters and of course their adventures around the area and at Albatross.

Tony and Gordon flew together both here in Australia and again in the UK when Gordon was on exchange. Gordon still has his logbook which certainly made for some interesting reading and conversation last week.

Spoofy endured a few moves with the Edgecombes around Nowra during their stay and probably became just as famous and well known. He left with the family when they moved to Canberra and eventually died in 1981 aged 14 to 15.

This story first appeared on The South Coast Register