Kabosu, the dog behind the ‘doge’ internet meme, has died

Kabosu, the shiba inu dog whose quizzical expression appeared in a series of “doge” memes on the Internet, has died, his owner announced Friday.

A photo of Kabosu with a slight sideways glance went viral around 2013 on Tumblr and various online message boards, before becoming known as “doge”, one of the most iconic and recognized images of era of the social web.

The dog’s owner, Atsuko Sato, 62, a kindergarten teacher from the town of Sakura, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, confirmed the news in a poignant poem on her blog on Friday.

“At 7:50 a.m. I fell into a deep sleep,” she wrote. Sato said she would hold a farewell party for “Kabo-chan” on Sunday.

“She died quietly, as if she was sleeping while I was caressing her,” Sato wrote, according to a translation by the AFP news agency. “I think Kabo-chan was the happiest dog in the world. And I was the happiest owner.”

Kabosu’s face has been featured in countless social media posts and has even become the face of a cryptocurrency. A non-fungible token, or NFT, of the image was sold in 2021 for $4 million.

Dogecoin paid tribute to the dog on X, saying she was a “being who knew only happiness and limitless love.”

The image was shared online, often with colorful captions in the font-free comic expressing false astonishment, usually including “wow”, “amaze” and broken English such as “so frost, much cold”, intended to be considered the internal image of the dog. monologue.

People would adapt the meme to comment on world events and pop culture news and even to attack their political rivals.

In 2014, the public transport authority in Stockholm, Sweden, launched an advertising campaign using the doge meme, with captions such as “so cheap”, “lots of summer”, and “wow”.

Sakura is so proud of its famous canine mascot that the doge’s image was used on manhole covers and a bronze statue of Kabosu was unveiled earlier this year, funded by donations from fans around the world .

Sato told Japanese newspaper Ashahi Shimbun in February that Kabosu was a rescue dog who was at one point on the verge of being put down. Kabosu’s exact age is unclear, but Sato said in February that she was 18 years old.

“Since Kabosu arrived at my home, a series of miraculous things have happened, enriching my life and giving me a treasure trove of priceless moments,” Sato told the newspaper.

The famous image of Kabosu was taken in 2010 and uploaded to Sato’s blog, where it remains online.

Sato told the website Know Your Meme in 2020 that there was nothing unusual about the photo.

“I take a lot of photos every day, so this day was nothing special. Kabosu loves having her photo taken, so she was excited to have the camera pointed at her,” she told the site.

And she remained baffled by the internet fame her pet had attracted. “I didn’t know anything and I still don’t really understand,” she said.

Kabosu was diagnosed with leukemia and liver disease in 2020. Sato told AFP in a recent interview that the “invisible power” of internet users’ prayers helped her get through it.