Have you ever thought your dog could be a star if you only had the perfect photograph? Especially if you post “the perfect photo” on social media, and it happens to go viral! That’s exactly what happened with Doge, one of the most popular memes in the world.
If you haven’t heard about Doge yet, it’s only a matter of time. Doge is all over social media, in the news, and nearly everywhere you turn. It has become popularized the world over, and is especially viral in America.

But what exactly is Doge? How did it get started? And why has it become such a viral thing? And here’s the biggest question of all: Do you have a Doge dog?
What Doge Means
In around 2013, an internet meme became so popularized that it’s known all over the world. The original meme was of a Shiba Inu dog, and was accompanied by multicolored Comic Sans font text in the foreground that was written in broken English. The name of the dog used in the meme was Kabosu, and the original photo was taken in 2010.
Spelling of Doge
Doge was an intentional misspelling of the word dog. It was meant to be a cutesy, affectionate term that people ended up loving enough to help it take off. The word was first recognized as being used in an episode of Homestar Runner’s puppet series in 2005. It grew in popularity after going viral in a Reddit post in 2010.
Rules of Doge
The overlaid Comic Sans font text uses two-word phrases. It almost always includes one of the five modifiers:so, such, many, much, and very. It departs from grammatical English in that the modifier is placed with a word that it can’t properly modify, such as “much respect,” “much frosty” to indicate cold, “many ice” when in the snow, and so forth. A Doge utterance normally ends with a single word like “wow.” There are often numerous two-word phrases and single words overlaid on the photo.
When thinking about the proper way to use Doge in a meme, think about how a dog might speak. Much like a toddler, an animal might think in more simplistic terms, using words they are familiar with. “Very winter” might indicate the animal’s understanding of a season..
Popularity
Doge became popular in the same manner that any other viral sensation does. Someone liked it so much they shared it, and others liked it enough to copy it. Much in the manner of a new internet slang, Doge just sort of appeared one day and took the internet by storm, and it all started with one little Shiba Inu dog.
Kabosu
Kabosu was a Shiba Inu dog from Japan. Kabosu was born in 2005, and adopted in 2008 by kindergarten teacher Atsuko Sato. Some known facts about Kabosu are that she was:
- A pedigree dog who was sent to an animal shelter after her puppy mill closed.
- Named after the citrus fruit, kabosu, by a volunteer at the shelter
- Thought to have a round face like the fruit by her owner, who decided to keep the name
- Was first featured in a 2010 blog post by owner Sato
- Used in variations of the picture with overlaid Comic Sans text in a Tumblr blog, Shiba Confessions
Kabosu the dog was also popular in Japan, but not as a meme. She and her owner were well-known because of the fourth-most popular pet-related blog in the country, Taking a walk with Kabosu-chan. The particular photo that was such a hit featured Kabosu with eyebrows raised and a knowing or mischievous look.
Kabosu had a bench dedicated to her at a park in Sakura, Japan. She was so popular that her death in May of 2024 was featured in every prominent news medium, including New York Times, BBC, and NBC News.
Were Other Dogs Doge Dogs?
Other dogs were also featured in the overlaid-text meme after the original Kabosu photo had gone viral. As viral memes tend to do, the meme was used by others with cute Shiba Inu dogs, then by owners with other breeds of dogs. Those photos in turn were shared and became viral. Some dogs that grew popular in Doge-style memes were:
Suki: a female Shiba Inu belonging to photographer Jonathan Fleming from San Francisco. She is featured wearing a scarf.
Cheems: a Shiba Inu dog named Balitze from Hong Kong.
Walter: a bull terrier named Nelson.
Dogecoin
You can’t mention the Doge meme without knowing one of the largest reasons for its popularity. Dogecoin was created in December of 2013, and was based on the already-popularized meme. A new cryptocurrency, Dogecoin was the first cryptocurrency that was created based on an Internet meme.
Dogecoin used Comic Sans MS typeface, just like the original meme photo. And it became a viral phenomenon as well. Medium writer Quinn Norton said that using the typeface and meme gave Dogecoin ”the internet density of a large star.”
Dogecoin is now:
- The sponsor of Josh Wise in NASCAR; there is a picture of the Shiba Inu on his car.
- Featured in the downloadable content for the video game NASCAR ’14
- Tumblr’s top 10 shared memes of the year in 2016
- Mentioned frequently on internet communities and by celebrities like Elon Musk
Final Thoughts
If you want to know if your dog is a Doge dog, the correct answer is: It could be! If you have a Shiba Inu, you automatically have a Doge dog, thanks to the popularity of viral internet memes. You can use Comic Sans overlaid text, follow the usage rules of the words, and take your best doggie photo.If you have a different breed of dog, you can still try your luck at internet viral memes by using the Doge text rules. Whatever you choose to do, you now know the origin of the Doge meme. What would Fido have to say about Doge?