The dog from the Doge meme, Kabosu, has died at the grand old age of approximately 18, according to her owner, Atsuko Sato, who posted the news on her Japanese-language blog. The canine had been battling leukaemia and liver disease and ultimately died in her sleep on May 24.
Interestingly, Kabosu was adopted from a puppy mill where she would have been put down – that was in 2008. In 2010, two years after being adopted, Ms Sato took a picture of Kabosu crossing her paws on the sofa. This became the famous Doge meme. Due to her being adopted, it"s impossible to say exactly when she was born.
Fast-forward to 2013, and Dogecoin launched; that project currently uses the Doge meme image in its logo. Dogecoin was set up as a joke by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer but exploded in popularity in part from endorsements from celebrities like Elon Musk.
According to the BBC, Kabosu had been living with her illnesses since late 2022. In addition to living to a good age, Kabosu has had a $100,000 statue of her built in a park in Sakura by Own The Doge, a crypto organisation.
Her owner, Atsuko Sato and Own The Doge have donated large sums of money to international charities, including $1 million to Save the Children, which is the largest single donation the charity has ever received.
Aside from becoming the mascot of Dogecoin, Kabosu’s famous picture was also turned into an NFT digital artwork, a category in the crypto space that has garnered much criticism. The artwork managed to sell for a huge $4 million.
According to Ms Sato, Kabosu passed away quietly in her sleep. Sato said that she thinks her dog was “the happiest dog in the world” and that she “was the happiest owner.”
While the Kabosu may be gone, the meme is likely to live on for a long time into the future, effectively memorialising her.
Source: Atsuko Sato via BBC News