Doge is an Internet phenomenon that’s been around for years. But it became especially popular in 2013. Ten years on, the Doge meme still is visible in the online world.
Doge consists of photoshopped images of a Shiba Inus with catch phrases written overtop that include phrases like “wow”, “Such Shibe”, “Much meme”.
Perhaps you have seen some of these popular Doge GIFS, videos and memes? Or more recently as the symbol for the cryptocurrency Dogecoin? Or in April of 2023 as the Shiba Inu replaced the blue Twitter bird on Twitter?
Doge appearing on Twitter in April 2023
One Shiba Inu image reigns above all others, appearing in many of the doge memes and has become synonymous with Dogecoin, although the image predates the digital currency. But just where did this particular Shiba Inu image originate?
Reporter Kyle Chayka with The Verve investigated Doge and tracked down the real dog back in 2013. Yes, there is a real dog behind the perennial meme!
a doge meme from 2013
The Shiba Inu is named Kabosu and she was saved from a puppy mill by a Japanese kindergarten teacher named Atsuko Sato. Kabosu would have almost certainly been euthanized if Atsuko hadn’t rescued her. Atsuko told Chayka that Kabosu and 19 other Shiba Inus were abandoned. Some were adopted, but the rest were killed. “She was not loved when she was little, so I want to shower her with love as a member of my family,” Atsuko told Chayka.
Kabosu the Shiba Inu is the dog of the original doge meme.
In 2010, Atsuko uploaded a photo of Kabosu relaxing on a couch. Little did she know that her dog would soon become a meme superstar. Atsuko told Chayka she was startled to see her dog on the Internet in 2013 and really only understood what a dog meme actually was a little while after that.
“It felt very strange to see her face there. It was a Kabosu that I didn’t know,” she said.
Doge “soap” meme from 2013
What Atsuko didn’t realize was that Kabosu had unwittingly become the face of “doge,” a white-hot internet meme that still is around 10 years later. The doge meme plasters photos of Shiba Inu dog with fractured phrases written in Comic Sans typeface.
An example of Comic Sans type used in a doge meme from 2013
The images often feature a “wow” in one corner, then a series of intensifiers, like “so” and “such,” paired with nouns relevant to the picture. “So scare,” “such dapper,” “many skill,” some examples read, like a surreal narrative of the dog’s inner monologue. The image of Kabosu became the most popular image used.
Doge meme from 2013
At the time Atsuko posted the picture of Kabosu online, she created her own very popular blog in Japan to help raise awareness about the dangers of puppy mills. Atsuko confessed to Chayka that she doesn’t really understand the strange and mesmerizing world of Doge Kabosu’s photo started.
“To be honest, some pictures are strange for me, but it’s still funny! I’m very impressed with their skills and taste,” she said. “Around me, nobody knows about the doge meme. Maybe I don’t understand memes very well, because I’m living a such an analog life.”
Wow. Such Shibe.
Atsuko now shares her “analog life” with Kabosu on Instagram. And Kabosu recently celebrated her 17th birthday!
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In December 2022, Atsuko shared the news that Kabosu has chronic lymphoma leukemia and liver disease which caused her a health crisis at that time. She wrote that Kabosu was in “a very dangerous condition” after being diagnosed with acute cholangiohepatitis, a type of inflammation in the digestive system in addition to the blood cancer.
However, as of April 2023 Kabosu is doing better and recently took in the cherry blossoms, enjoying every minute of it.
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Following Kabosu on her real-life adventures is very satisfying and knowing that she was saved from a terrible circumstance, survived, and has gone on to have such a wonderful life is so very heartwarming.
You can see more of Kabosu on Instagram. And read the full story of Kabosu and Doge at The Verge.
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