handler, originally intended to give the puppy to his son as a pet but soon began training Patron as a
detection dog
A detection dog or sniffer dog is a dog that is trained to use its senses to detect substances such as explosives, illegal drugs, wildlife scat, currency, blood, and contraband electronics such as illicit mobile phones. The sense most used by d ...
instead.
After
Russia invaded Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
on 24 February 2022, Patron and Iliev began working to neutralize
unexploded Russian
bomb
A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...
s and
land mine
A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automati ...
s in and around Iliev's home city of
Chernihiv
Chernihiv ( uk, Черні́гів, , russian: Черни́гов, ; pl, Czernihów, ; la, Czernihovia), is a city and municipality in northern Ukraine, which serves as the administrative center of Chernihiv Oblast and Chernihiv Raion within ...
. Patron became a celebrity after the State Emergency Service posted a video of him on
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
on 19 March 2022.
The video, in which Patron can be seen sniffing around debris and sitting in Iliev's lap while wearing a small
bulletproof vest
A bulletproof vest, also known as a ballistic vest or a bullet-resistant vest, is an item of body armor that helps absorb the impact and reduce or stop penetration to the torso from firearm-fired projectiles and fragmentation from explosions. T ...
personalized with his name in
Cyrillic
, bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця
, fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs
, fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic
, fam3 = Phoenician
, fam4 = G ...
letters,
went viral
Viral phenomena or viral sensation are objects or patterns that are able to replicate themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them. Analogous to the way in which viruses propagate, the ter ...
, garnering over 267,000 views and 16,000
reactions
Reaction may refer to a process or to a response to an action, event, or exposure:
Physics and chemistry
*Chemical reaction
*Nuclear reaction
*Reaction (physics), as defined by Newton's third law
*Chain reaction (disambiguation).
Biology and me ...
.
On the same day, the Ukrainian
Ministry of Culture and Information Policy
The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy ( uk, Міністерство культури України) or MinCult is the main state authority in the system of central government of Ukraine responsible for country's cultural development a ...
's Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security reposted the video on
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
, where it has received more than 877,000 views, 27,000
likes, and 6,500
retweet
Reblogging (or, in Twitter parlance, retweeting) is the mechanism in blogging which allows users to repost the content of another user's post with an indication that the source of the post is another user.
It was first developed by Jonah Peretti ...
s since 19 July 2022. In addition to his help in demining efforts, Patron has been actively involved in charity work, making visits to patients at the in
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
.
Reception
Due to his viral fame, dangerous work, and charity appearances, Patron has been described as an "unexpected social media weapon" for Ukraine. On 1 September 2022,
Ukrposhta
JSC Ukrainian Postal Service or Ukrposhta ( uk, Укрпошта) is the national postal service of Ukraine. It is a public company with 100% state ownership due to its strategic importance. In 1999–2015 it was a unitary enterprise of the gov ...
began selling charity stamps featuring Patron to raise money for animal shelters and a demining vehicle.
According to experts, the growth of Patron's popularity can be part of the Ukrainian information strategy during Russia's invasion (and Ukrainian
propaganda
Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...
as a whole). They noted that the use of
viral video
A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan, Alexander Haupt ...
s with dramatic stories help contribute to forming the desired narrative regarding the war while in Patron's case, it has the added benefit of raising awareness of the problem of mine-clearing in
de-occupied territories of Ukraine.
Recognition
On 5 May 2022,
Minister of Internal Affairs
Minister may refer to:
* Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric
** Minister (Catholic Church)
* Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department)
** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...
Denys Monastyrsky
Denys Anatoliiovych Monastyrsky ( uk, Денис Анатолійович Монастирський; born 12 June 1980) is a Ukrainian lawyer and politician who has been Ukraine's Minister of Internal Affairs since 16 July 2021.[mascot
A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...]
.
Four days later, Ukrainian president
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy, ; russian: Владимир Александрович Зеленский, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Zelenskyy, (born 25 January 1978; also transliterated as Zelensky or Zelenskiy) is a Ukrainian politicia ...
, accompanied by Canadian prime minister
Justin Trudeau
Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...
, jointly honored Patron and Iliev with the
Order for Courage, Third Class, thanking them for their service to Ukraine.
On 27 May 2022, Patron was awarded the
Palm Dog Award
The Palm Dog Award is a yearly alternative award presented by the international film critics during the Cannes Film Festival. Begun in 2001 by Toby Rose, it is awarded to the best performance by a canine (live or animated) or group of canines dur ...
for "DogManitarian Work" at the
2022 Cannes Film Festival
The 75th annual Cannes Film Festival is an upcoming film festival scheduled to take place from 17 to 28 May 2022. The festival will see a tribute to actor Tom Cruise, whose film '' Top Gun: Maverick'' is due to premiere at the festival. The off ...
.
To mark the celebration of
World Children's Day
Children's Day is a commemorative date celebrated annually in honor of children, whose date of observance varies by country.
In 1925, International Children's Day was first proclaimed in Geneva during the World Conference on Child Welfare. Sin ...
, on 20 November 2022,
UNICEF
UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...
signed a memorandum of understanding with Patron's representatives to recognize Patron as the "Goodwill AmbassaDOG" in Ukraine.
In January 2023, a Patron
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
channel was opened with an animated version of Patron starring.
The cartoons, with English and Polish subtitles, were produced with
USAID
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...
support and in partnership with UNICEF.
See also
*
Explosive ordnance disposal
Bomb disposal is an explosives engineering profession using the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe. ''Bomb disposal'' is an all-encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functions in the militar ...
*
List of individual dogs
This is a list of individual famous actual dogs; for famous dogs from fiction, see List of fictional dogs.
Actors
Advertising
* Axelrod, Basset Hound, appeared in commercials and print ads for Flying "A" Service Station advertisements in ...
*
Military animal
Military animals are trained animals that are used in warfare and other combat related activities. As working animals, different military animals serve different functions. Horses, elephants, camels, and other animals have been used for both tran ...
*
Military mascot
A military mascot, also known as a ceremonial pet or regimental mascot, is a pet animal maintained by a military unit as a mascot for ceremonial purposes and/or as an emblem of that unit. It differs from a military animal in that it is not employe ...
References
External links
*
Patron– Official website
*
*
*
*
{{2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
2019 animal births
Patron
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...
Animals on the Internet
Detection dogs
Dogs in popular culture
Dogs in warfare
Dog mascots
Patron
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...
Patron
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...
Recipients of the Order For Courage, 3rd class
State Emergency Service of Ukraine