{{Short description, Dog of the Finnish president (2011–2021)
Lennu (real name: Anjyr's Boreas, 7 March 2011 – 21 May 2021)Presidenttiparin Lennu-koira on kuollut
YLE
Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...
. Accessed on 22 May 2021. was the pet
Boston Terrier
The Boston Terrier is a breed of dog originating in the United States of America. This "American Gentleman" was accepted in 1893 by the American Kennel Club as a non-sporting breed. Boston Terriers are small and compact with a short tail and ere ...
dog of
President of Finland
The president of the Republic of Finland (; ) is the head of state of Finland. The incumbent president is Alexander Stubb, since 1 March 2024. He was elected president for the first time in 2024 Finnish presidential election, 2024.
The presi ...
Sauli Niinistö
Sauli Väinämö Niinistö (, born 24 August 1948) is a Finnish politician who served as the 12th president of Finland from 2012 to 2024.
A lawyer by education, Niinistö was Chairman of the National Coalition Party (NCP) from 1994 to 2001, Mini ...
and his wife Jenni Haukio. Lennu's father had come to
Finland
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
from
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
and his mother from
Estonia
Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...
.
Lennu was often present in official appearances by president Niinistö. The dog received international attention in
social media
Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
in February 2017. In the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, Lennu was also briefly featured in ''
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by actor and comedian Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC. The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. It i ...
'', showing
Internet meme
An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...
s made from him. In May 2017 a picture of Lennu in Niinistö's lap was shown at
Reddit
Reddit ( ) is an American Proprietary software, proprietary social news news aggregator, aggregation and Internet forum, forum Social media, social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to the ...
in a forum where users competed in
image manipulation
Image editing encompasses the processes of altering images, whether they are Digital photography, digital photographs, traditional Photographic processing, photo-chemical photographs, or illustrations. Traditional analog image editing is known ...
. The Lennu challenge was so popular it was shown at the Reddit front page. The dog has also had a pastry named after him. Lennu was present in accepting Christmas greetings addressed to the president and was almost the leading character in the Yle News broadcast: he was very interested in the Christmas ham and pike.
In May 2020 president Niinistö announced that Lennu had been kept out of publicity because blunt-nosed dogs can have health problems, and the presidential couple thus did not want to keep their dog in the public eye. They had not known of the health problems caused by the breeding of this particular breed when acquiring the dog.Kinnunen, Pekka Lennu-koira katosi julkisuudesta – Presidentti Sauli Niinistön mukaan syynä on koiranjalostuksen nurja puoli
YLE
Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...
8 September 2020. Accessed on 27 September 2020.
Lennu died on 21 May 2021 due to a
pituitary gland
The pituitary gland or hypophysis is an endocrine gland in vertebrates. In humans, the pituitary gland is located at the base of the human brain, brain, protruding off the bottom of the hypothalamus. The pituitary gland and the hypothalamus contr ...
tumor
A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...
.
See also
*
List of individual dogs
The following is a list of individual dogs.
Actors
Advertising
* Alex the dog, Banjo, portrayed Carlos, an Irish Setter-Golden Retriever mix and star of Stroh Brewery Company, Stroh's beer advertising in the 1980s. Also mentioned in the 1 ...
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...