Doge: the pup behind the meme

This is Kabosu (Japanese: かぼす). She was born on November 2nd, 2005, and she is the infamous Shiba Inu features in the original Doge meme. Kabuso is a pedigree dog who was sent to an animal shelter when her puppy mill shut down, where she was later rescued and adopted by Japanese kindergarten teacher Atsuko Satō in 2008. She had named the Shiba Inu "Kabuso", after the citrus fruit kabosu because Satō believed her round face resembled that of the fruit. Do you see the similarities?
Kabosu was first pictured in a 2010 blog post by Satō, among the photos included a peculiar shot of Kabosu sitting on a couch while glaring sideways at the camera with raised eyebrows, which would later become the iconic meme image. Afterwards variations of the pictures using overlaid colorful Comic Sans text expressing "the doge's internal thoughts" were posted on a Tumblr blog, Shiba Confessions.



The Japanese perception is remarkably different; Kabosu and Satō are known as pet and owner rather than a meme, and her blog was the fourth-most popular pet-related blog in the country as of December 2013. Reacting to the meme, she explained, "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." Satō has also expressed that she had learned that "the risk of the internet is that anyone in the world can see my life on my blog".

Because of Kabosu, and the many other now famous Shina Inus out there, including "Suki," a Shiba Inu who lives with San Francisco-based photographer Jonathan Fleming, as the scarfed dog portrayed in another popular instance of the meme. Shiba Inus as a breed has found renewed interest with dog lovers. Jonathan Fleming stated that, in his experience, the Shiba Inu breed has become more recognized due to the memes.