Doge is an internet meme featuring photos of a Shiba Inu named Kabosu overlaid with multicolored Comic Sans text in deliberately broken English, using modifiers like "so," "such," "much," "many," and "very".

Where did Doge come from?

The source photo was posted by Japanese kindergarten teacher Atsuko Sato to her blog on February 13, 2010. The word "doge" as a misspelling of "dog" dates to a 2005 Homestar Runner episode.

"Doge" is slang for "dog," and the meme's captions represent a dog's excited internal monologue in fractured English. The format uses deliberate grammatical mismatches for comedic effect.

Take a Shiba Inu photo, add scattered multicolored Comic Sans text using modifiers like "such," "much," and "very" paired with mismatched words, and include a "wow" somewhere on the image.

Is Doge still popular?

The original captioned photo format peaked in 2013-2014, but derivatives like Ironic Doge, Cheems, and Dogecoin kept the meme culturally relevant through the 2020s. Kabosu died in May 2024, prompting a global wave of tributes.

Kabosu was a female Shiba Inu born in 2005, rescued from a puppy mill by the organization Chiba-Wan in 2008, and adopted by Atsuko Sato. She lived in Sakura, Chiba prefecture, Japan until her death on May 24, 2024 at age 18.

How do you pronounce "Doge"?

The most common pronunciations are "DOHJ" (rhymes with "vogue" with a soft J) and "DOHG" (rhymes with "vogue"). Other variants include "DOHZH," "doggy," and in some non-English contexts, "dodge".

Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency created in December 2013 by Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer as a parody of Bitcoin, using Kabosu's face as its logo. It reached a peak market capitalization over $85 billion in May 2021.

How much did the Doge NFT sell for?

PleasrDAO acquired an NFT of the original Kabosu photograph for approximately $4 million in 2021.

What is "Ironic Doge"?

Starting around 2017, Ironic Doge formats placed the Kabosu character in surreal, absurdist, or dark scenarios, moving away from the original wholesome captioned photos. The community centered on Reddit's /r/DogeLore.

Cheems is a separate Shiba Inu character from the Ironic Doge universe, known for a speech impediment where the letter "M" appears throughout words, as in "Cheemsburger" for "Cheeseburger".

What is the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)?

In November 2024, U.S. president-elect Donald Trump announced plans for the Department of Government Efficiency, abbreviated as DOGE. The name is a reverse acronym referencing both the meme and Dogecoin.

Did 4chan raid Reddit with Doge?

Yes. On August 26, 2013, 4chan's /b/ board flooded Reddit's /r/Murica with patriotic Doge photoshops. The raid backfired because /r/Murica largely enjoyed the content.

Kabosu died on May 24, 2024, at age 18. Her owner Atsuko Sato announced the death on her blog, describing a peaceful passing on a quiet morning.

Was Doge's death reported as an April Fools' prank?

Yes. On March 31, 2017, the CCTV Twitter account reported Kabosu had died at age 16, but it was an April Fools' Day hoax.

Doge

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Published March 10, 2026 · Updated October 21, 2026

Also known as: Shibe · Shiba Inu meme · Such doge · Super shibe

Doge is an internet meme built around photos of a Shiba Inu named Kabosu, overlaid with colorful Comic Sans captions in deliberately broken English. The format took off in 2013 after years of quiet spread across Tumblr and Reddit, earning Know Your Meme's "top meme" of the year3. Kabosu's sideways glance launched a cryptocurrency worth billions, inspired an NFT sale of over $4 million, and gave its name to a U.S. government department, making it one of the most consequential memes in internet history.

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Overview

Doge (pronounced /ˈdoʊdʒ/ DOHJ) is a slang term for "dog" that is primarily associated with pictures of Shiba Inus (nicknamed "Shibe") and internal monologue captions on Tumblr. These photos may be photoshopped to change the dog's face or captioned with interior monologues in Comic Sans font. The primary meme and iconography associated with Doge was the Shiba Inu named Kabosu, whose photos taken by her owner Atsuko Sato in early 2010 went viral across the internet, spawning numerous memes and larger trends in the following decades. Starting in 2017, Ironic Doge formats gained prevalence over the original wholesome version as the memetic character continued to evolve. In 2024, president-elect Donald Trump announced plans to establish the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), named after the meme.

Writing about Doge's legacy in The New Yorker after Kabosu's death, Kyle Chayka reflected that the meme "projected a sense of hopeful naïveté about the Internet which has lately disappeared from digital culture"12. Unlike modern viral content optimized for algorithmic promotion, Doge emerged organically, belonging "both to everyone and to no one"12.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Tumblr and Reddit

Key People

Atsuko Sato, Kabosu

Date

2010 (original photo), 2013 (meme format)

The word "doge" as a playful misspelling of "dog" traces to June 24, 2005, when the puppet character Homestar Runner spelled out "d-o-g-e" while calling Strong Bad his friend in the episode "Biz Cas Fri 1"6. Strong Bad's baffled reply, "Your doge?! What are you talking about?" gave the misspelling its first documented use6.

The image half of the equation arrived on February 13, 2010, when Japanese kindergarten teacher Atsuko Sato posted photos of her rescue Shiba Inu, Kabosu, to her personal blog10. Among those photos was a now-legendary shot: Kabosu sitting on a couch, glancing sideways at the camera with raised eyebrows and crossed paws10. Kabosu had been rescued from a puppy mill shutdown in November 2008, one of 19 Shiba Inus sent to a shelter where most were euthanized10. A volunteer from the organization Chiba-Wan saved her and named her after the Japanese citrus fruit kabosu; Sato kept the name when she adopted her because she thought the dog's round face matched it10.

On October 28, 2010, a Reddit user submitted a photo of a corgi to the /r/Ads subreddit with the title "LMBO LOOK @ THIS FUKKEN DOGE," pulling 266 upvotes and fusing the word "doge" with the concept of funny dog photos11. Whether this post referenced Homestar Runner intentionally or was simply a typo is unknown, but the name stuck11.

How It Spread

The meme developed slowly through 2012 before exploding in 2013. In April 2012, Tumblr user leonsumbitches uploaded an audio file of a computer reading a passage about encountering a "doge," paired with a dog photo, which collected over 33,000 notes2. By summer 2012, doge threads were appearing on 4chan boards including /v/, and the Tumblr blog "Shiba Confessions" launched on July 7, pairing Shiba Inu photos with Comic Sans captions10. The growth of Shiba Confessions helped establish the visual language that Doge would later adopt wholesale12.

In August 2012, the Tumblr blog "F--k Yeah Doge" launched, followed by the subreddit /r/Doge in January 20132. Google Trends data shows interest in "doge" stayed flat until July 2013, when Kabosu's specific photo locked in as the meme's defining image10. On July 29, 2013, a doge thread was sticky-featured on 4chan's /s4s/ board, drawing over 600 replies2.

The meme crossed into mainstream awareness in August 2013 when 4chan's /b/ board raided Reddit's /r/Murica, flooding the subreddit with patriotic Doge photoshops1. The moderators of /r/Murica mostly welcomed the invasion, with one writing: "4chan decided we wouldn't like this, or something. We totally do. FREEDOM OF SPEECH SUCKA"1. The Daily Dot covered the raid, and by late 2013, Doge was inescapable online1.

In November 2013, YouTube implemented an Easter egg: searching "doge meme" turned all site text into colorful Comic Sans2. By December, Know Your Meme crowned Doge its top meme of 20133. That same month, members of the U.S. Congress produced material in Doge's style, with Texas Representative Steve Stockman tweeting a Doge-ified image of Senator John Cornyn10. The Huffington Post declared the meme "killed" by congressional usage3. The memes staying power was cemented in 2023 when Bad Luck Brian and Kabosu finally met in person. 44

Platforms

TumblrRedditTwitter9GAGFacebookInstagram

Timeline

2005-06-24

The word "doge" as a playful misspelling of "dog" first appeared when the puppet character Homestar Runner spelled out "d-o-g-e" while calling Strong Bad his friend in the episode "Biz Cas Fri 1."

2008-11-01

Kabosu was adopted by Atsuko Sato; November 2 became her celebrated birthday and adoption anniversary. She was one of 19 Shiba Inus rescued from a puppy mill shutdown, most of whom were euthanized.

2017-03-31

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV tweeted that Kabosu had died at age 16, drawing over 8,400 retweets, but the report was false.

View on Google Trends

Cultural Impact

Doge crossed from internet joke to mainstream culture faster than almost any meme before it. In 2014, a California gaming company attempted to trademark the word "Doge" with the U.S. Patent Office, prompting Atsuko Sato to fight back by selling her own Doge merchandise to support animal charities. The shiba inu's face appeared on a NASCAR race car in 2014 — the "#98 Doge" car, funded by the Dogecoin cryptocurrency community. In 2021, Dogecoin's market cap briefly exceeded $80 billion, making Kabosu arguably the most valuable dog on Earth. She was named TIME's Most Influential Doge in 2021. When Kabosu passed away in 2025, crypto wallets around the world held moments of silence, and internet historians declared her the most recognized canine in digital history.