See a slide show (or two) of war dogs in the U.S. Army.

To the anarchists, communists, and disaffected youth rioting against austerity measures on the streets of Athens these days, add one last group of down-and-out Athenians: dogs. The city's strays have been out in full force during the protests, with one dog in particular stealing the show, a scruffy fellow named Loukanikos ("Sausage"). Louk, who earned his moniker for his sausage-like shape, follows in the footsteps of Kanellos, the original riot dog of Athens, who passed away in 2008. Louk's efforts have earned him a Facebook page, a Twitter account, a tumblelog, and several YouTube tributes chronicling his work on the front lines of the Athenian protest movement.

Here, Loukanikos barks at Greek riot police on Dec. 8, 2010.

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Louk slips between protesters on Jan. 9, 2009, a month into a wave of protests that began in December 2008 with the shooting of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos by police in central Athens. Loukanikos and the rest of Athens's dogs have their own grievances against the Athenian government, which purportedly carried out a wide-scale poisoning campaign to rid the city of its strays in the lead-up to the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

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Louk stands between demonstrators and a police cordon in front of Greece's Parliament on Feb. 14, 2009. Predecessor Kanellos ("Cinnamon") tended to tag along with anarchist protesters, but Louk may not be so partisan. "I've seen [Loukanikos] right next to conservative students who were attacking socialist ones," says Demetris Nellas, a reporter in Athens.

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Louk looks on as rioters protest austerity measures in Greece on June 15. The cuts are part of an agreement with the IMF that allowed Greece to qualify for a 110 billion-euro loan. In the turbulent aftermath, however, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou had to form a new cabinet to chase public support for his proposals.

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A swirl of yellow tear gas engulfs Louk and a protester on Dec. 18, 2008, in the days after the Grigoropoulos shooting. Eyewitnesses say that Louk isn't bothered by tear gas or stun grenades -- far from it. "He seems to look for noise and [wants to] be in the thick of things," says Nellas.

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Young protesters holding stones and a hammer join Louk in downtown Athens on Feb. 23 to show their opposition to budget cuts.

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A tear-gas canister erupts in front of Louk and other demonstrators on Jan. 9, 2009.

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Louk finds himself in the thick of a showdown between riot police and demonstrators on Feb. 24, 2010. Like the rest of Athens's strays, Louk sports a collar, part of a 2003 city government initiative to monitor the city's stray-dog population. Estimates in the run-up to the 2004 Olympics put the number of strays at 15,000.

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Louk joins protesters throwing stones at the police near Parliament on May 5, 2010. The days' protests claimed three lives among the tens of thousands swarming downtown Athens.

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Louk and other demonstrators escape a cloud of tear gas in central Athens's Syntagma Square on June 15.

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With Louk looking on, youths and police clash outside the University of Athens on Dec. 11, 2008.

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Louk stands with a gang of demonstrators on Dec. 12, 2008.

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