"I think he just feels hard done by at the moment," his new owner Dunedin student Jane McManamon says.
That might be easier to understand knowing Panos has recently moved from the Greek island of Syros to Dunedin.
Ms McManamon, a first-year law student at the University of Otago and her partner Chris Kenny, a fourth-year genetics student, fell in love with 1-year-old Panos while they were volunteering at a Greek pound where the dog was being kept.
About 13 months ago, they decided to adopt him, and have since spent much time, and thousands of dollars, trying to bring him home.
Leaving behind the little dog, whom Mr Kenny described as a cross between a collie and a black springer spaniel, was not an option.
He was somewhat the underdog of his cage and was bullied by the other dogs.
Ms McManamon said the adoption rate in Greece was minimal, so Panos would probably have spent his whole life in a cage that was about 1.5m by 3m, sharing with two other dogs and probably only being let out once or twice a week.
Mr Kenny said the process of getting Panos to New Zealand was a nightmare, but the couple's exporter was very helpful, looking after him for 10 months and then accompanying him on a four-hour ferry ride to Athens.
A person in the Greek equivalent of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (Maf) told Ms McManamon only two dogs had been exported from Greece before, and now they knew why that probably was, she said.
"We ended up having to organise the blood work to be done in the United Kingdom and, in the end, were in contact with our vet, our exporter, our travel agent, Emirates [airline], Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the quarantine in Christchurch, a member of the Greek equivalent of Maf, the UK lab and, randomly, a laboratory in South Africa ... lots of late-night skyping," Mr Kenny said.
With the cost spiralling into the thousands of dollars, Mr Kenny's parents were called in to assist financially and, eventually, Panos was on the way to Christchurch, with a brief stop for a walk in Dubai.
After spending a month in quarantine in Christchurch, he moved in with the couple about a month ago and was adjusting well to the New Zealand way of life - even the colder weather.
He was still a little afraid of strangers and sudden movements, but was getting more confident each day.
As for the potential language barriers, Mr Kenny said they were all coping well.
"He doesn't really understand any language very well, but does respond to ella Pano [come, Panos], so we'll keep that one and probably do the rest in English."
