Doge is dead: Dog from the meme dies at 18

One of the internet's most famous dogs is dead. The knowing look of Kabosu, a Shiba Inu breed dog, made people all over the world smile. Now the animal has died at the ripe old age of 18 near Tokyo in Japan, its owner announced on Instagram. The dog fell asleep peacefully on May 24. The post with the sad message alone received over 120,000 likes.

Kabosu was born in November 2005 and was saved from death by Japanese kindergarten teacher Atsuko Sato when the dog breeder was threatened with bankruptcy and the remaining animals were to be euthanized. The animal became known to the public through a weblog that Sato set up in 2009 and in which the dog, named after a Japanese citrus fruit, was seen for the first time. Reddit user John Monarch is said to be the creator of the Doge meme, which exists in numerous variations and has also been imitated by several other dogs. The internet phenomenon first became more widespread in 2013 and 2014.

Motif of a cryptocurrency

In addition to the photo of the dog, the meme called Doge was characterized using the font Comic Sans MS and the idiosyncratic Doge-Speak. Kabosu gained further notoriety through the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, which was brought up by Elon Musk, among others.

Kabosu even has its international Doge Day. Last year, even the inventor of the Doge meme traveled from the USA to Japan for the first time to experience the famous motif live. Previously, there had been concerns about the dog's health due to an illness. Kabosu is likely to be remembered as part of network culture for a long time to come.

In August 2023, another Shiba Inu died and lives on in memes: Balltze, affectionately called "Ball Ball" by his owners, became an internet celebrity as "Cheems".

(mki)