Kabosu, the Dog Who Defined ‘Doge,’ Dead at Age 18

Kabosu, the world wide web-famous Shiba Inu who straddled multiple meme eras as the face of “doge,” has as died. She was 18.

Kabosu’s owner, Atsuko Sato, said her dog died — “crossed the rainbow bridge” — Friday, May 24. “She went very peacefully without suffering, as if falling asleep while feeling the warmth of my hands petting her,” Sato said. “Thank you all so much for loving Kabosu all these years. I am certain that Kabosu was the happiest dog in the world. That makes me the happiest owner in the world. I would like to express my deepest appreciation to everyone who has sent us much love to us.”

Sato adopted Kabosu (named for the citrus fruit, related to yuzu) in 2008, rescuing her from a puppy mill after the business closed down and Kabosu was abandoned with 19 other Shiba dogs (per a 2013 profile in The Verge). Like many new pet owners, Sato was eager to share photos of her new pup, so she started a blog called “Taking a walk with Kabosu-chan.”

It was a Feb. 13, 2010 post titled “What’s for dinner?” that would eventually launch Kabosu into the hallowed halls of internet history. It featured a simple photo of Kabosu sitting on a couch, paws crossed, head cocked, giving a silly but intriguing askance glance to the camera. But viral fame didn’t come immediately.

Around the same time, the “doge” meme format was taking root, with people pairing goofy dog pictures with off-kilter comic sans text, like “much wow” or “very pet.” (The actual term “doge” dates back to a 2005 Homestar Runner video.) While one of the earliest doge posts (“LMBO LOOK @ THIS FUKKIN DOGE”) on Reddit was of a Corgi, over the years, Shiba Inus became the face of the meme, thanks in part to the popular Tumblr blog, Shiba Confessions. By 2013, the meme format had exploded in popularity, and Sato’s 2010 photo of Kabosu was its defining image. 

Like many meme formats, “doge” burned blindingly bright. First came the delightfully nonsensical photoshop, like Kabosu’s head on a loaf of bread or a Twinkie; then politicians started glomming onto the meme format; a cryptocurrency even launched, dogecoin, with Kabosu’s face plastered on the digital currency; and finally came the ironic shitpost spin-offs to officially complete the cycle. 

Still, even over a decade later, Kabosu remains a fairly regular presence online, part of reliably decent memes like “Swole Doge” and its “virgin vs Chad” spin-off “Swole Doge vs. Cheems” (Cheems being a different internet-famous Shiba). Then again, if you want to be reminded of how corny the doge memes got, well, just look at Elon Musk and his longstanding doge obsession. 

Throughout all of this, Sato continued to share photos of Kabosu, and her blog remained popular in Japan completely outside the context of the meme. “To be honest, some pictures are strange for me, but it’s still funny!” Sato told The Verge. “ I’m very impressed with their skills and taste. Around me, nobody knows about the doge meme. Maybe I don’t understand memes very well, because I’m living such an analog life.”

Still, she gamely leaned into the doge-of-it-all, even marking Kabosu’s birthday, Nov. 2, as “Doge Day.” Along with providing a long, happy life for Kabosu, she also hoped his fame would bring more awareness to animal shelters and puppy mills. “I’d like to give back to them somehow, helping those abandoned animals,” Sato said. “It’ll be nice that Kabosu can play that role.”