Neal Wooten grew up on a small pig farm on Sand Mountain in the Blake, Alabama community. A math prodigy at Sylvania High School, Neal won many math tournaments against much larger schools. When asked if he was a nerd in high school, he said, “High school? Being a nerd is in your DNA. It doesn’t go away.”
A math major at Auburn University, Neal began performing standup comedy as a way to help pay the bills. After he graduated, he continued to perform standup comedy for decades. He has headlined at comedy clubs and theaters across the country, had his own TV show, was in an HBO special, and was in a movie with Danny Trejo.
At age 40, he realized he could do more than just count and began his writing career. He is now the author of twenty-nine published titles. His books have won dozens of awards and become best sellers. Reternity, his Christian sci-fi novel, won ten awards on its own and was named to Kirkus Reviews Best of 2011.
His novel, Granny Dollar, is currently being made into a documentary for Alabama Public TV. His memoir, With the Devil’s Help, is his first non-fiction. Published by Pegasus Books and distributed by Simon and Schuster, a producer from Los Angeles is making it into a ten-part scripted miniseries.
Neal Wooten has always been a dog lover with a soft spot for pit bulls, so naturally, two of his books are about pitties. Pit Bulls vs. Aliens, where pit bulls save the world from an alien invasion, won the Kindle Scout Award for best fiction. Another one of his award-winning pit bull books is about a bait dog titled A Dog Named Mutt.
He is the creator of the comic strip, Brad’s Pit. It’s about a guy named Brad who adopts an adult pit bull from the shelter and their life together. The Spanish version, Pancho el Pit Bull, is now considered the most popular cartoon in parts of South America.
Editorial Planeta, the largest publisher of Spanish books, has published seven Pancho books with five more in the works. Pancho is going global this year, beginning in Mexico and Spain, and is being made into an animated series.
Just a normal Sand Mountain pig farmer, Neal is once again living in his hometown and shares his home with four formerly stray dogs who are now spoiled, rotten, avid kayakers.
Neal caught up with K9 Magazine to talk about his dogs, work, and life.
Tell us all about all the dogs you've loved in your life. (This is your chance to tell us everything about your dogs, past or present. Names, ages, breeds - we want to know everything!)
My first dog was when I was four. He was a pit bull named Whitey. He had a brown spot over one eye and resembled Petey from The Little Rascals. When I was nine, he saved my life from being attacked by three large dogs.
He paid the price, but somehow survived and lived a long life. From the time I got out of college until now, I’ve had dozens, all shelter pups or strays. Now I have four stray rescues: Benny (Jack Russell), Betty (Mixed), Baby Girl (Pit Bull), and Baxter (Mixed).
You're obviously a huge dog lover. How long have dogs been a major part of your life, and how would you explain the importance of dogs to someone who hadn't ever experienced the joy of a canine/human relationship in their life?
Dogs have always been a part of my life. Growing up on a farm, we always had dogs. My ex-wife grew up in Chicago and had never owned a dog.
Once we took in a stray pit bull, she was hooked, and we had to get two more. I’ll say it this way – you’ll never experience with a human the unconditional love you’ll get from a dog.
What are your favorite things to do with your dog(s)?
My dogs are great travelers, and we know the hotels that allow dogs. But my favorite thing to do with my four current dogs is kayaking. They have all become great kayakers.
You have a really interesting career... What advice would you give to the many people who want to follow your path in career terms? What are the absolute best (and worst) things about your work?
Being a standup comic, I would recommend it to anyone. I love a live audience. Being a cartoonist is very demanding, with coming up with a new cartoon every day. Acting is so much harder than people realize. I was in only three scenes of a movie, and it took all day.
I couldn’t walk without limping when it was over. Being an author is very rewarding, but not as glamorous as people think.
It’s sitting on your butt for more hours than an astronaut could endure, staring at an illuminated screen until your eyes hurt, and taking 18 months of 15-hour days to crank out a new novel only to have people read it in four hours and say, “When’s the next one?”
Here are our quick-fire questions. Are you ready?
Yep.
Which do you prefer and why?
Big dogs or little dogs?
In the past, I would have definitely said big dogs. In fact, I had never had a small dog before. But one of my current stray rescues is a Jack Russell Terrier, and he’s the most awesome dog ever.
Calm, relaxed dogs or dogs who live at 100mph?
I love dogs with tons of energy. They get tired and become calm and relaxed at times, but they’re always ready to go at a second’s notice on whatever adventure you want to take them.
Dogs who do as they're asked most of the time, or dogs who do pretty much whatever they like whenever they like?
I have a passion for strays, so they’re never trained. But I have found that strays learn how to act properly faster than dogs you raise.
Dogs who love to walk by your side or dogs who like to race off and cover ten thousand yards in 3 seconds?
The times I have lived in a city, a dog that stays by your side while you walk them is important. Now that I’m back in the rural South, give me a dog who loves to roam.
Days off or days at work?
I love my work, but love kayaking more, so days off.
The fastest route or the scenic route?
Scenic. Our journeys in this world are never about the destinations.
Nighttime or early morning?
I’m a rare combination of early bird and night owl.
Describe the last time you laughed out loud because of something you saw a dog do.
Baby Girl, my pit bull, cracks me up. She was abandoned and lived in the wild for a while, so getting attention from a human drives her crazy. I recently bent over to pet her, and she got so excited she headbutted me. My nose and lip were bleeding freely. We just laughed and laughed.
What do you like to do in your downtime?
Unless it’s freezing or there’s a tornado warning, I’m going to be on the river or the reservoir in a kayak. I love to take my dogs. I also teach a seniors’ fitness class and take groups of seniors kayaking often.
Let us in on a secret that very few people know about you.
Most people know me now for my books or my cartoon, but I was a teenage math prodigy competing in tournaments and winning several first-place trophies against much larger schools.
What is your current favorite…?
TV show?
Cheers.
Album?
The Eagles' Greatest Hits.
Film?
Cyrano de Bergerac (1950).
Website?
Knuckle Bump Farms.
Animal charity(s)?
If you had to choose just one, what product or service would you say has most changed your life, do you think, and why? (can be technology, beauty, food, pet-related, book, anything)
As much as we love to bash social media, I can’t imagine life without it now. It’s so easy to stay in touch with old friends, plan events like reunions, and for book authors, it’s a Godsend to let readers know about new releases.
Tell us about some of the most memorable moments from your work.
Six months after my memoir was released, my literary agent called me and said, “Your movie agent thinks he can sell your book as a movie or miniseries.”
That was very exciting and left me with just one question. “I have a movie agent?” He was able to successfully pitch the idea to a producer in LA.
Finish the following sentence, "Dogs are..."...
…the only ones in your life who will love you more than they love themselves.”
And finally, this is always a tough question and often requires some serious thought… If dogs had the ability to speak, and you could ask your dog just one question and one question only, what would you ask them, and what do you think that they'd say?
That is a tough one. I guess I’d just ask if they’re happy. It makes me think of the funny meme that circulates on social media that says, “I love when my dog sighs. I’m like, ‘What troubles you, my little unemployed freeloader?’”
This is an opportunity to talk about any causes, projects, business ventures, etc, that are important to you and you'd like us to tell our readers about.
One area I know we can do better at, especially here in the South, is with strays. Nothing reflects our failures as a society more than the millions of stray dogs in this country. Lobby your members of Congress for spay and neuter laws and demand action against backyard breeders. We can make a difference.
Until then, open your home and your heart to a stray. They’ve already been abandoned by the one person they should have been able to trust, so their confidence in humans is basically shot.
It will take them longer to come out of their shells than that purebred you’ve been wanting, and even shelter dogs. But once they do, you’ll have all the unconditional love you can handle.
Thanks, Neal!
