One of the world’s most famous dogs has passed away at the age of 18.
Kabosu, a Shiba Inu from Japan who, as the New York Times puts it, helped “define the ‘Doge’ meme” in addition to serving as the face – literally – of the viral cryptocurrency movement Dogecoin “crossed the rainbow bridge” on Tuesday, according to an Instagram post from her owner, Atsuko Sato.
“She went very peacefully without suffering, as if falling asleep while feeling the warmth of my hands petting her,” Sato said on Instagram. “I am certain that Kabosu was the happiest dog in the world…that makes me the happiest owner in the world.”
The cute pooch became a meme in 2010 after Sato posted several photos of Kabosu to her blog, one of which eventually found its way to Reddit and quickly spread across the internet like wildfire.
The viral photo shows Kabosu giving the camera a face that could be interpreted as contemplative, apprehensive or even mischievous.
Kabosu was quick to blow up online at the start of the meme era, often being captioned with grammatically incorrect two-word phrases in Comic Sans font that would depict the dog’s thoughts, such as “Much awake!” and “So scare!”
Many spinoff memes followed the original meme, the New York Times noted, including photoshopping Kabosu’s face onto a loaf of bread, among other concepts that got more abstract as the years went on.
If memes aren’t your thing, then you may know Kabosu as the face of Dogecoin, an open-source peer-to-peer cryptocurrency that started as a joke in 2013 and made some people millionaires after its value temporarily skyrocketed in 2021.
The official X account for Dogecoin – which has 3.9 million followers – posted a tribute to Kabosu praising the “immeasurable” impact she had on the world.
“Our community’s shared friend and inspiration peacefully passed in the arms of her person,” the post read. “The impact this one dog has made across the world is immeasurable…she was a being who knew only happiness and limitless love.”
Kabosu was originally rescued by Sato from a shelter where she was to be put down, according to Know Your Meme, who interviewed her in 2020. The famous Shiba Inu had been diagnosed with cancer in late 2022 but made a miraculous recovery a few short months later, Sato said.
The full history of the Doge meme can be found here.