Such Sad! Kabosu, Dog Who Inspired Doge Meme, Dies at 18

Proud Millennials mourn today, as the world faces the devastating loss of the zeitgeist of the internet. Or zeitdoge, if you will. Kabosu, the Japanese shiba inu who inspired many a meme — and her very own commemorative bronze statue in Japan — crossed the rainbow bridge today.

All dogs go to heaven, but this doge will probably end up in a special VIP subHeaven, as her likeness captured the soul of burgeoning internet culture. Kabo-chan, as she was known to her owner, Atsuko Sato, succumbed at the age of approximately 18 after a protracted struggle with canine leukemia and liver disease.

Kabosu was memorialized in her hometown of Sakura with a statue in her iconic pose in situ on a statuary couch at the Sakura Furusato riverside park, unveiled on November 2, 2023 — the pup’s 18th birthday. The sculptural group also includes renderings of Sato’s three cats, also reportedly a reference to the importance of felines in our modern meme ecosystem. (It’s clear who the star is, though.) It was crowdfunded by Own the Doge, an organization committed to doing good works in her name. “May her legacy of joy and perseverance live on forever through our global community,” a representative for Own the Doge told Hyperallergic. “Legends never die.

One can only assume that pilgrimages to this holy site are already being planned, from basements around the world.

“She quietly passed away as if asleep while I caressed her,” Sato assured fans of the venerable pup, in a blog post translated by the BBC. The Sakura schoolteacher adopted Kabosu as a rescue from a puppy mill in 2008, and two years later shared a snapshot of her young pet with a skeptical side-eye expression and primly crossed paws. What followed, no one could have predicted.

From the unassuming personal blog of a dog-lover to the cultural blender of Reddit, Kabo-chan became doge, and doge became all of us, through expressive shiba inu imagery accompanied by bonky internet-speak that presents her inner narrative. Which is our inner narrative. We are doge and doge are we. Here, try it yourself.

But doge did not merely take the internet by storm, to speak our deepest truths in grammatically endearing ways — so powerful was Kabo-chan that she was issued her own currency. As the face of Dogecoin, a joke between a couple software engineers whose punchline was becoming a cryptocurrency, Kabosu has achieved a status generally reserved for royalty, dead presidents, and Bored Apes.

From those who can’t make the expedition to see Kabosu’s tribute in bronze, let it nonetheless be known that our well-wishes are extended to Sato. The loss of a pet is always difficult, but at least this particular loss is shared by a global community. Rest well, Kabosu. You were a good dog, and a great doge.

Much sad. Very mourn. Wow.

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