Kabosu, the famed Shiba Inu dies: How a rescue dog became the face of Dogecoin & an internet sensation

Kabosu, the dog behind the “doge” meme, has died after 14 years of internet fame, her owner Atsuko Sato announced in a poignant poem on her blog. The Japanese Shiba Inu inspired a generation of online jokes and became the face of the Dogecoin cryptocurrency. Kabosu had been suffering from leukemia and liver disease and passed away on 24 May.

“She quietly passed away as if asleep while I caressed her,” wrote Sato, expressing gratitude to Kabosu’s fans. “I think Kabo-chan was the happiest dog in the world. And I was the happiest owner.”

Taking to X, Dogecoin also paid tribute to Kabosu saying, “The impact this one dog has made across the world is immeasurable. She was a being who knew only happiness and limitless love.”

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Today Kabosu, our community's shared friend and inspiration, peacefully passed in the arms of her person. The impact this one dog has made across the world is immeasurable.

She was a being who knew only happiness and limitless love.

Please keep her spirit and her family in…

— Dogecoin (@dogecoin) May 24, 2024

As a rescue dog, Kabosu’s exact birthday was unknown, but Sato estimated her age to be 18 and celebrated Kabosu’s birthday on 2 November. Sato also informed that there would be a farewell party for “Kabo-chan” on 26 May in Narita city.

Kabuso & Sato - pet & owner

Kabosu was a pedigree dog who ended up in an animal shelter after her puppy mill shut down. She was adopted in 2008 by Atsuko Sato, a Japanese kindergarten teacher, who named her after the citrus fruit kabosu because she thought the dog had a round face like the fruit.

In late December 2022, it was reported that Kabosu was seriously ill with leukemia, though Sato later noted an improvement in her health.

In Japan, Kabosu and Sato are known more as pet and owner than as an internet meme. Their blog, “Taking a Walk with Kabosu-chan,” was the fourth most popular pet-related blog in Japan as of December 2013.

In 2023, a $100,000 monument featuring Sato’s sofa and Kabosu was installed in a park in Sakura, Chiba in Japan. It was crowdfunded by Own The Doge, a cryptocurrency organisation dedicated to the meme.

Sato and Own The Doge have made significant donations to international charities, including over US$1 million to Save the Children. Save the Children has described this contribution as “the single largest crypto contribution” it has ever received.

“Doge” - one of the most popular memes on the internet

Kabosu first appeared in a 2010 blog post by Sato. Variations of these pictures, with overlaid Comic Sans text, were later posted on a Tumblr blog called Shiba Confessions. The intentionally misspelled term “Doge” dates back to June 2005, when it was mentioned in an episode of Homestar Runner’s puppet series.

Reflecting on the meme, Sato said, “To be honest, some pictures are strange for me, but it’s still funny! 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.”

Sato also expressed that she had learned “the risk of the internet is that anyone in the world can see my life on my blog.”

The meme began to gain popularity after it was featured in an October 2010 Reddit post titled “LMBO LOOK @ THIS FUKKEN DOGE.”

Based on a 2010 photograph of Kabosu, the meme gained significant traction in late 2013, being named Know Your Meme’s “top meme” of that year.

Doge uses two-word phrases where the first word is almost always one of five modifiers: “so,” “such,” “many,” “much,” and “very.” The departure from correct English involves using these modifiers with words they cannot properly modify.

For instance, “Much respect. So noble.” uses the Doge modifiers correctly, but the proper Doge version would be “Much noble, so respect.” Additionally, a typical Doge utterance often ends with a single word, most commonly “wow,” but sometimes “amaze” or “excite.”

Online searches for the meme started to rise in July 2013. In August 2013, images of the meme were spammed on Reddit’s r/MURICA subreddit by users from 4chan’s random imageboard, /b/. By late December 2013, even members of the US Congress were creating content in the style of the meme.

Much bipartisanship. Very spending. Wow. #doge http://t.co/NMlzqrZS8e pic.twitter.com/zjQTrfoUFJ

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) December 23, 2013

The picture later became an NFT digital artwork that sold for $4 million. It also inspired Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency initially started as a joke by two software engineers. Several online polls and media outlets recognised Doge as one of the best Internet memes of the 2010s.

Other dogs also joined in the meme frenzy

Since the inception of the meme, several variations and spin-offs have emerged. One variation is “liquified Doge,” where the dog’s shape is morphed into other animals. Another is “ironic Doge,” which places the Doge character in ironic and uncharacteristic situations.

The ironic Doge memes have given rise to several related characters, often dogs themselves, including Cheems, another Shiba Inu known for a speech impediment that adds the letter “M” throughout its speech. Walter, a Bull Terrier character, is typically portrayed as enjoying “moster trucks” [sic] and firetrucks.

These memes are predominantly found on subreddits like r/dogelore. One popular meme in 2020 was “Swole Doge vs. Cheems,” which contrasts a muscular Doge representing something considered better in the past with a baby Cheems representing its modern version.

Another Shiba Inu featured in the meme is Suki, a female dog belonging to photographer Jonathan Fleming from San Francisco. Fleming’s wife accidentally shrunk a scarf in the wash, and he took a photograph of Suki wearing the scarf outside on a cold night in February 2010.

Other characters used in the meme are based on photographs of real dogs. Cheems is based on an image of a dog named Balltze from Hong Kong. Balltze was adopted at the age of one and was nine years old in 2020. He had leukemia and was undergoing thoracentesis (the draining of fluid from his chest) when he passed away on 18 August, 2023, at the age of 12.

Walter is based on the bull terrier Nelson, who became popular in 2018 after his owner, Victoria Leigh, posted a picture of him on X with the caption “When u open the front-facing camera on accident.” In 2020, rumours of Nelson’s death began circulating on the internet, but they turned out to be false.

The US$23 billion ‘joke’ - Dogecoin

In December 2013, Dogecoin was introduced as a new cryptocurrency, becoming the first cryptocurrency based on an internet meme. Created by Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, the currency was initially meant to mock the rampant speculation in cryptocurrencies at the time. Dogecoin is often regarded as the first “meme coin” and specifically the first “dog coin.” Despite its humorous origins, some view it as a legitimate investment opportunity.

Dogecoin features the face of Kabosu as its logo. Launched on 6 December, 2013, it quickly garnered its own online community. Dogecoin reached its peak market capitalisation of over US$85 billion on 5 May, 2021.

Dogecoin has garnered support from notable figures such as hip-hop star Snoop Dogg and Kiss bassist Gene Simmons.

However, its most enthusiastic supporter is billionaire Elon Musk. Musk frequently jokes about Dogecoin on his social media platform X, often sending its value soaring. He has referred to Dogecoin as “the people’s crypto,” contributing to its widespread popularity and cultural impact.

Dogecoin has since become the eighth-most valuable cryptocurrency, with a current market capitalisation of US$23 billion.

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