--- title: Loukanikos: The Dog That Joined Protests in Athens, Greece - TIME description: The stray dog that joined the lines of demonstrators in the Greek capital has become an international celebrity canonical: https://time.com/archive/7059271/meet-loukanikos-athens-protest-dog/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2011-12-14T05:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T10:45:33.329Z article:section: World og:title: Meet Loukanikos, Athens' Protest Dog og:description: The stray dog that joined the lines of demonstrators in the Greek capital has become an international celebrity og:url: https://time.com/archive/7059271/meet-loukanikos-athens-protest-dog/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Meet Loukanikos, Athens' Protest Dog twitter:description: The stray dog that joined the lines of demonstrators in the Greek capital has become an international celebrity twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) * [LightBox](/tag/time-section-lightbox/) # Meet Loukanikos, Athens' Protest Dog by [TIME](/author/time/) Dec 14, 2011 5:00 AM CUT by [TIME](/author/time/) Dec 14, 2011 5:00 AM CUT The stray dog that joined the lines of demonstrators in the Greek capital has become an international celebrity ### Protest Dog  Loukanikos — the word means sausage in Greek — has shown up for numerous demonstrations in Athens over the past few years. Here, he barks at riot police in December 2010. Aris Messinis / AFP / Getty Images ### Portrait  Loukanikos, photographed for TIME by Peter Hapak on Nov. 15, 2011. Peter Hapak for TIME ### On the Front Lines  The dog, which is a stray, is well taken care of by students in Athens. This photo was taken in December 2009. Giorgos Moutafis / Anzenberger ### Unbowed  Loukanikos stands with the protesters, even when they are dodging tear gas and firebombs. Giorgos Moutafis / Anzenberger ### Stroll?  The protest dog joins demonstrators wearing gas masks in June 2011. Giorgos Moutafis / Anzenberger ### Streets on Fire  Loukanikos avoids police and fire during February 2011 unrest. Giorgos Moutafis / Anzenberger ### Unfazed  A can of tear gas lands near Loukanikos and Greek protesters in February 2011. Giorgos Moutafis / Anzenberger ### In the Middle  This photo featuring Loukanikos was taken in front of one of Athens' hotels in June 2011. Giorgos Moutafis / Anzenberger ### Good Dog  Loukanikos trots near the Greek Parliament in May 2010. Giorgos Moutafis / Anzenberger ### Night  In June 2011, Loukanikos walks in front of a line of riot police. Giorgos Moutafis / Anzenberger ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7059271/meet-loukanikos-athens-protest-dog/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7059271/meet-loukanikos-athens-protest-dog/"},"headline":"Meet Loukanikos, Athens' Protest Dog","datePublished":"2011-12-14T05:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T10:45:33.329Z","description":"The stray dog that joined the lines of demonstrators in the Greek capital has become an international celebrity","url":"https://time.com/archive/7059271/meet-loukanikos-athens-protest-dog/","keywords":["LightBox"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME","url":"https://time.com/author/time/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-lightbox/","name":"LightBox"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/7059271/meet-loukanikos-athens-protest-dog/","name":"Meet Loukanikos, Athens' Protest Dog"}}]}] ```