Nopee is a Jack Russell Terrier, of the long haired vatiety and he's quite the athlete. He is friendly (even if he does growl slightly at men), but he's really primarily interested in squirrels. He may even catch one someday.

Donna Godbout told us about Nopee, though he is actually owned by Kerry and Jamie Vause, her daughter and son in law. He's three years old and her son in law got him in North Carolina. "He was being abused, " Godbout explained, " and my son in law said, well, I'll just take him. The guy that had him was really abusing him, hitting him all the time. In fact that's where his name came from. NO PEE! because he was peeing all over the house so the owner called him NoPee and it stuck."

Because he likes to chase squirrels he will sit in the window for a long time waiting. "You can always tell when he sees one," said Godbout, " because he starts running to the door and going back to the window, and back to the door"

Nopee eats Beneful dog food, mostly dry "but with some meaty morsels," and he doesn't get treats aside from the occasional dog biscuit. "He doesn't eat any people food because it doesn't agree with him."

He has managed to make friends with many people in the neighborhood, at least in part because the tree in the corner of the yard is easy for him to climb. It's bent a bit and he will run at it full speed and at the bend he can stand, or as he prefers to do, jump over the fence. "People come by all the time and knock and say 'Nopee's outside, he's over the fence."

He's fast, and able to dodge cars but, "My daughter's worried about it, " said Godbout, "he'll just go up the tree and over the fence. But most people drive pretty slow around here."

Their neighbor, Duncan Lee said he's seen Nopee do other stunts. "The tree across the street, I saw him run up it and do a back flip, like in martial arts movies."

Godbout said of Nopee, "He's just very, very loving and very protective. He doesn't like men too much," but he doesn't bite.

Nopee does love to retrieve a ball now and then but he's not one to give it up right away. He's probably thinking it's good practice for that day when he actually does catch a squirrel.

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