Originally published 2020-03-22. Dates, ages and announcements in this article refer to March 2020.
In March 2020, as Cyprus asked people to stay at home, a Limassol resident named Vakis Demetriou (also spelled Dimitriou) found an unusual way to get his dog outside: he tied the lead to a drone and flew it from his balcony while the dog trotted down an empty street. He posted the clip on Facebook, it was viewed well over a million times within days, and it became one of the first viral images of lockdown life.
The video is funny and oddly touching. It is also a snapshot of a strange moment, and a useful prompt to ask what dogs actually need when their owners cannot go out. Here is what the clip shows, the situation in Cyprus at the time, and what animal-welfare groups say about walking a dog by remote control.
What the drone dog-walking video shows
The footage is short. A small drone hovers a few metres above the road, a lead hanging from it, and a dog walks along beneath, sniffing and pausing as dogs do. The streets of Limassol, a port city on the island's southern coast, are almost deserted. Demetriou steers from his balcony, and the camera follows the pair down the block.
His caption set the tone. He wrote that it was the fifth day of his quarantine and added: "Stay home safe, but don't forget your dog's happiness." Good News Network and several US local stations picked the story up on 23 March 2020, reporting that the original post had passed 1.7 million views and had been copied across many other pages.
If the video does not load, it was posted publicly on Demetriou's own Facebook page, which is where the embed above points.
Cyprus in March 2020: why the streets were empty
Cyprus confirmed its first two cases of COVID-19 on 9 March 2020, one of them a young man from Limassol who had returned from Italy. Numbers rose over the following days, and on 13 March President Nikos Anastasiadis announced that the borders would close to non-nationals for 15 days from 15 March. The island's first death from the disease was confirmed on 21 March, just as the drone video was spreading.
When the clip was first shared, local reports put the total at 75 confirmed cases in the government-controlled areas and a further 33 in the north of the island, which has been under Turkish occupation since 1974 and whose figures were counted separately. Those were tiny numbers compared with later waves, but they were enough for schools, cafés and many workplaces to close and for people to be urged to stay at home. A dog-walking drone over a silent street captured that mood better than any statistic.
Why the clip went viral
Early lockdown produced a whole genre of improvised solutions: balcony concerts in Italy, people "walking" toy dogs on strings, neighbours sending shopping up on ropes. They spread because they turned a frightening situation into something people could laugh about together, and because almost everyone was at home scrolling.
The drone video had extra ingredients. It involved a dog, which reliably helps. It looked like science fiction, and several reporters compared it to the dog-walking gadget in Back to the Future Part II (1989). And it raised an obvious question that kept people commenting: who was holding the camera? Many viewers also joked that the dog seemed to be walking the drone rather than the other way round.
Is walking a dog with a drone a good idea?
As a one-off stunt on an empty street, it did no obvious harm, and the dog in the clip looks relaxed. As a routine, it is a poor idea, and the American Kennel Club advised against it when US outlets covered the story. The reasons are practical rather than fussy:
- No real control. A drone cannot hold back a dog that lunges at a cat, another dog or a passing car. A strong pull can also drag a small drone out of the air.
- Noise and fear. Many dogs find the buzz of propellers alarming. A frightened dog on a lead attached to a moving machine may panic.
- Battery and signal limits. Consumer drones fly for a limited time and can lose connection behind buildings, which is the last thing you want with an animal attached.
- Rules on flying. Many countries restrict flying drones over people, roads and built-up areas, and an owner can be responsible for any damage or injury.
- It misses the point of a walk. For a dog, a walk is about sniffing, social contact and time with its person, not only covering distance.
So the clip works best as what it was: a light-hearted message from someone stuck at home, not a model for pet care.
Keeping a dog happy when you cannot go out
Most lockdown rules, in Cyprus and elsewhere, allowed short outings for exercise or to walk a pet. Still, there are days when an owner is ill, isolating or simply unable to leave the house. A few ideas help a dog cope:
- Ask for help. A neighbour, friend or professional walker can take the dog out, with the lead and poo bags handed over at the door.
- Work the nose. Hiding treats around a room or garden, scatter-feeding kibble or using a snuffle mat tires dogs out surprisingly well.
- Use food puzzles. Stuffed rubber toys or puzzle feeders turn a meal into a 20-minute task.
- Short training sessions. Five minutes of practising "sit", "down" or a new trick gives mental exercise and strengthens the bond.
- Garden or balcony play. Tug, fetch in a hallway or a few laps of the yard can stand in for a walk for a day or two.
- Keep a routine. Dogs settle better when meals, play and rest happen at familiar times.
If a dog's behaviour changes sharply, or it seems unwell, a call to a vet is the sensible step.
What the video still says about that spring
Looking back, the clip is a small piece of social history. It shows how quickly ordinary routines were turned upside down, how people reached for humour and technology to cope, and how much pets mattered during months of isolation. For many households, the daily walk became the one fixed reason to step outside, and dogs that spent those months with their people at home all day later had to adjust when offices and schools reopened.
Demetriou's message was simple: stay at home, but do not forget the animal that depends on you. That part has aged well, even if the drone has not become the dog-walker of the future.
Sources: Video by Vakis Demetriou, posted on Facebook, March 2020; Good News Network, 23 March 2020; 10News / Scripps, 23 March 2020; COVID-19 pandemic in Cyprus (Wikipedia).
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