Nops

Nops are creatures in the novels Muos and Muos: Purgatory.

Description
Don't be afraid of them. They are nops, our secret weapon against the Ribboners. Mutated dogs, the "new dogs" as we call them. They are very strong, hardy, and also omnivorous. Because of the presence of the parasite in their body, the Ribbon Dogs have a different metabolism and apparently specific smell. It's true that only the canine sense of smell distinguishes them. We have taught the nops to distinguish a tapeworm from a normal human by its smell, and we have given them an extermination setup. The dogs are safe for ordinary humans, but as soon as they smell a Ribbon Man, they go into a battle trance. They would really help us in the war with the ribbon-crawlers, but the trouble is that they don't reproduce well. There is also a problem with feeding: although they don't eat much, it's difficult for diggers to feed them. We've only raised nineteen nops in the nursery. More than half of them died on your release.

Nops (New Dogs) are remotely like medium-sized dogs, but without fur. Their muscular and lean bodies are covered in pale pink fur, with brown warts or bright red spots.

Nops can produce a terrible howl.

Their elongated head had a huge jaw with protruding fangs and tubercles instead of ears. Nops had fearsome, greedy, burning eyes.

Nops are strong enough to carry a man on their backs. They can make leaps that are two meters long.