Rescue Dog Astounds Her Neighborhood and the Internet with Her Strange Climbing Talent (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Nola the dog is a local attraction in her New York neighborhood and is easy to spot.

The couple adopted Nola when she was a puppy in 2018 fromNorth Country Pet Adoptionsin N.Y. after fostering the dog for several months.

Nola the rescue dog.Courtesy Vanessa Marquette

Courtesy Vanessa Marquette

“We could tell right away she felt so at home, and she quickly became part of the family,” Ryan adds.

Shortly after making Nola an official family member, the couple began to hear about the dog’s strange behavior. First, their pet sitter mentioned that Nola managed to jump the tall fence surrounding their home.

Nola the climbing dog.Courtesy Vanessa Marquette

“I didn’t believe that she was jumping the fence. That’s a four-foot jump. That’s significant. She’s not the biggest dog in the world. So I remember going out and walking the entire fence perimeter, looking for holes because I was like, there’s no way. She’s slipping out underneath somewhere doing something, and that’s how she’s getting out. Then I found nothing.” Ryan recalls.

A short while after Ryan scanned the Syracuse house’s fence, he and Vanessa finally saw Nola’s jumping ability for themselves. Vanessa spied Nola scaling the home’s 6-foot-tall fence first and, after several failed attempts, got a photo to show Ryan what the dog was up to.

Nola the dog on her home’s fence.Courtesy Vanessa Marquette

Luckily, Nola isn’t trying to escape when she does her impressive pooch parkour onto the fence, usually climbing a tree to help her get to the top; she wants to take in the view and occasionally strike a pose. So now, Nola’s unusual trick has become part of her daily schedule and the subject of her Instagram (@noseynola).

“Now the whole neighborhood sees her. It’s funny,” Vanessa adds.

Nola’s status as an online and local celebrity helped her pet parents learn more about their rescue pup.

“The first time she went viral, everyone’s like, ‘Must be a Treeing Walker.’ I was like, ‘What are they talking about?'” Vanessa recalls. “Then I Googled it, and I was like, ‘Oh, maybe.’ So then we did her DNA test, and sure enough, she was like 26% Treeing Walker Coonhound.”

According to Orvis, the Treeing Walker Coonhound is a dog breed that was bred to hunt raccoons. As the breed’s name implies, the high-energy canines are adept at scaling trees.

Nola the dog.Courtesy Vanessa Marquette

The entire Marquette crew is ready for Halloween. Nola dressed asTaylor Swift’s cat, Olivia Benson,to meet her fans.

“We have trick-or-treaters come up, a lot of the kids, and the parents are like, ‘Oh, this is Nola!'” Ryan says.

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Nola’s owners adore their dogs, including their quirks, and hope that after learning about Nola, others will be inspired to adopt a rescue dog.

“She was on the euthanasia list at a shelter in North Carolina before coming up here, and she is a dog that many overlooked because she had an impairment with her eye, which sounds silly because look at what she can do. But it’s just a reminder that rescues are so special. They might surprise you!” Vanessa says.

source: people.com