A legend has left us. Kabosu, the Shiba Inu forever immortalized online with the Doge meme, passed away peacefully last Friday at the age of 18. Her person, Atsuko Sato, was petting her companion of 16 years when Kabosu slipped away, after battling leukemia and liver problems over the past few years. Kabosu reached heights few would have thought possible for a puppy mill survivor. Adopted by Sato in 2008, Kabosu’s online fame took off in 2010 when Sato took a series of photos of the Shiba Inu and posted them on her blog. One picture in particular — showing Kabosu with crossed paws and a hint of side eye — captured the internet’s fascination, and the rest was history. The image, with Kabosu’s inscrutable expression, quickly became the Mona Lisa of memes. Her body may have now given out, but her stare will live on(line) forever.
A Shiba Inu who helped popularize the “doge” meme and whose face is emblazoned upon the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, died on Friday. She was 18 years old.
In 2022, she was diagnosed with leukemia and had liver issues, according to the New York Times.
The dog’s owner, Atsuko Sato, a kindergarten teacher who lives in Sakura, a city east of Tokyo, announced Kabosu had “crossed the rainbow bridge” on social media Friday, per the Times. Sato also honored the popular pup in a poem on her blog on Friday.
“She quietly passed away as if asleep while I caressed 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 rose from everyday dog to Air Bud-level fame in the early 2010s, when a photo of her with crossed legs and a side-eye expression became known as the “doge” meme on Tumblr. The meme typically consisted of Kabosu’s face surrounded by rainbow-colored text in the Comic Sans font, and usually included words like “wow” or “amaze” and phrases in broken English, such as “give attention” or “what F you doing,” meant to stand in for the dog’s internal monologue.
The meme’s usage eventually evolved, and social media users would use Kabosu to comment on world events, pop culture news and politics.
Kabosu’s face also became the logo for Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency coin introduced in 2013, per the Times. Although the coin was initially created as a joke, people actually made a good chunk of money off it in 2021 after it experienced a huge spike in value. A non-fungible token, or NFT, of the image was also sold in 2021 for $4 million, per NBC News.
Sato adopted Kabosu from an animal shelter in November, 2008, saving her life.
“She was a pedigreed dog from a puppy mill, and when the puppy mill closed down, she was abandoned along with 19 other Shiba dogs,” Sato told the Verge in 2013. “Some of them were adopted, but the rest of them were killed.”
Kabosu was named by a volunteer at the shelter after a type of Japanese citrus.
“Her face is very round just like kabosu [fruit],” Sato told the Verge. “I thought the name was perfect, so I kept it.”
Because of Kabosu’s rough start in life, Sato told the outlet that she wanted “to shower her with love as a member of my family.” Discovering that the Shiba Inu had a “very gentle and calm” temperament, Sato decided to shoot a few photos of Kabosu in 2010 — including the fateful doge meme photo — and posted them to her personal blog.
Sato told the Verge she was pretty shocked when she began seeing her dog’s face popping up all over the internet.
I can’t pretend to understand cryptocurrency, NFTs, or how a meme can be sold at auction (though I was pleased to learn that Ms. Sato profited from that sale). But I do know a star when I see one, and that Kabosu was a STAR! Just looking at the iconic image, she gives us so much in that snap. First, she’s a lady, thankyouverymuch, and crossing her paws. Then there’s the slight head tilt, suggesting curiosity on her part yet also not giving too much away. Alluring? Check. But of course, it’s the eyes that catapult the picture from a cute portrait to a work of art. The eyes have “it!” Alert, inquisitive, and the suggestion of sass (you get the feeling that if she could arch an eyebrow, she would be), but very subtle so as to offer plausible deniability (“What?! Me giving shade? I wouldn’t dream of it!”).
My Girl, my beloved chihuahua-dachshund rescue, gives really good side eye, too. But unlike the mysterious quality in Kabosu’s visage, I never doubt that My Girl fully intends the sass behind the glance. Even now I swear she’s looking at me like, “I KNOW you’re writing about ANOTHER dog, Lady.” Yes I am, because there’s infinite room in our hearts to toast all the rescues!! Tonight’s kibble will be in Kabosu’s honor. And thank you, Atsuko Sato, for sharing your pup with the world.
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Aw
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Aww Rest in Peace lovely doggo
Rest now sweet little girl.
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What a wonderful story, 16 years of being loved and cared for, what more could any dog want?