# Birthday Dog Birthday Dog is Riley, a bichon frise and poodle mix whose 2010 birthday photo went viral because his sleepy grin made him look stoned. The image spread from Reddit to Buzzfeed and mainstream news outlets, and five years later showed up on North Korean state television as an example of American excess. ## Overview Birthday Dog is the internet nickname for Riley, a small bichon frise and poodle mix from San Jose, California[1]. The core image shows Riley sitting upright at a kitchen table wearing a paper party hat, with a birthday cake in front of him and his mouth slightly open in what looks like a wide, dopey grin[3]. His half-closed eyes and lopsided smile gave him the perpetually stoned expression that turned a family photo into one of the most photoshopped dog pictures of the early 2010s. Part of the appeal is the human-like posture. Riley sits at the table the way a small child would, paws resting near the cake, giving the picture an almost anthropomorphic quality[1]. Owner Maureen Ravelo has said Riley pulls similar expressions all the time, describing him as looking like an old man and often forgetting he is a dog[2]. That gap between the party hat, the cake and the very not-dog facial expression is what made Birthday Dog stick. ## How It Spread Buzzfeed republished the picture the same day the Reddit thread hit the front page, and by early March 2010 Heavy and Buzzfeed were running galleries of photoshopped Riley images dropped into other celebrations, movies and holiday scenes[3]. Pet-focused sections at outlets like People and the Huffington Post picked the picture up through spring 2010[3]. On April 8th, 2010, NBC's Today Show flew Ravelo and Riley to 30 Rockefeller Plaza for a couch segment with Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira, Natalie Morales and Al Roker[1]. Ravelo used the appearance to shut down the ongoing marijuana joke and explain that Riley just naturally makes strange faces, telling the crew he even shoots her dirty looks when she wakes him up[1]. UGO named Birthday Dog one of the best memes of 2010 that December[3]. Ravelo staged a follow-up shoot for Riley's second birthday on January 15th, 2011, this time with a single cupcake and no party hat[2]. The Daily Mail ran the sequel picture with quotes from Ravelo, who joked that Riley refused the hat because big boys don't wear birthday hats[2]. Buzzfeed reblogged the second birthday photo too, and the tag "birthday dog" kept turning up on Tumblr through 2012[3]. ## How to Use The Birthday Dog format is a straight image edit rather than a captioned template. People typically drop Riley's head or the full birthday-cake picture into unrelated scenes, or they swap the cake for weed, party drugs, alcohol or other objects that lean into the stoned-face joke[3]. Reaction-image usage is common too, with Riley's grinning face pasted over conversations about parties, birthdays or being way too high to function. ## Cultural Impact Riley's biggest post-viral moment came in July 2015, when North Korea's state broadcaster KCTV aired a segment on the show Today's World titled "Dissecting the State of Human Rights in the U.S." and used the Birthday Dog photo as an example of American excess[4]. Commentator Lee Chung-song told viewers that American billionaires spend fifteen thousand dollars on dog collars and throw lavish parties for their pets while homeless people live in boxes, with Riley's picture on screen as visual evidence[5]. The North Korea watchdog site NK News spotted the segment first, and the story was picked up within days by Mashable, The Guardian and The Washington Post[4][5]. Kim Heung-kwang, director of NK Intellectuals Solidarity, told reporters the misuse showed how hard it is for North Korean TV producers to source the right images without proper access to the open internet[5]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Birthday Dog? Birthday Dog is Riley, a bichon frise and poodle mix whose 2010 birthday portrait went viral because his sleepy grin made him look stoned[3]. ### Where did Birthday Dog come from? Owner Maureen Ravelo shot the photo in San Jose in February 2010, and family friend John Lipari posted it to Reddit on February 23rd, 2010[3]. ### What does Birthday Dog mean? The picture is used as visual shorthand for looking dazed, stoned or sleepily happy, thanks to Riley's half-shut eyes and lopsided grin[3]. ### How do you use Birthday Dog? People drop Riley's face into unrelated scenes or swap the birthday cake for drugs and party items, riffing on the stoned expression[3]. ### Is Birthday Dog still popular? The picture peaked in 2010 and had a second wave in July 2015 after the North Korea incident, and is now treated as a classic early-2010s dog meme rather than an active image[5]. ### Who is Riley the dog? Riley is a bichon frise and poodle mix owned by Maureen Ravelo of San Jose, California, born in January 2009 based on his birthday timing[2]. ### Was Riley actually high in the photo? No, Ravelo went on NBC's Today Show in April 2010 specifically to shut down the drug rumors and said Riley just makes strange faces naturally[1]. ### What breed is Birthday Dog? Riley is a bichon frise and poodle mix, a small crossbreed sometimes nicknamed a poochon or bichpoo[2]. ### Why did North Korea use Birthday Dog? KCTV used Riley's picture in July 2015 in a segment on US inequality as an example of American billionaires throwing lavish parties for their pets while homeless people live in boxes[5]. ### Who first posted Birthday Dog to Reddit? Family friend John Lipari posted the picture on February 23rd, 2010, and it pulled around 6,112 upvotes on that thread[3]. ### Where was the Birthday Dog photo taken? Maureen Ravelo's home in San Jose, California, during Riley's first birthday party in February 2010[1]. ### Did Birthday Dog appear on TV? Yes, Riley and Ravelo appeared on NBC's Today Show on April 8th, 2010 alongside Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira, Natalie Morales and Al Roker[1]. ## References 1. [https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/riley-the-smiling-dog-paints-the-town-in-new-york/1885643/]() 2. [https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1348226/Riley-smiling-dog-celebrates-birthday-toothy-grin-cupcake.html]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/birthday-dog]() 4. [https://mashable.com/2015/07/07/riley-dog-north-korean/]() 5. [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/07/north-korea-riley-birthday-dog-meme-western-decadence]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/birthday-dog Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library