Kabosu, Shiba Inu Dog Who Helped Define the Doge Meme, Dies at 18

Kabosu, a Shiba Inu whose “much wow” face helped launch one of the defining memes of the last decade and inspired the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, died on Friday. She was 18 years old.

She “crossed the rainbow bridge” on Friday, her owner Atsuko Sato said on social media, adding that she died without suffering, and as Ms. Sato was petting her. She died at home in Sakura, a city east of Tokyo, Ms. Sato said in an email on Friday.

In the animal hall of fame, Kabosu’s sudden rise from ordinary dog to global meme could only be described as “amaze.” Sent to an animal shelter with a group of other Shiba Inu dogs after her breeder went out of business, she was adopted in 2008 by Ms. Sato, a kindergarten teacher. Ms. Sato began posting photos of Kabosu enjoying her life and playing at home on her blog.

But one particular photo of Kabosu in 2010 broke through: eyebrows raised and with a look, much like a Rorschach test, that could be read as knowing, mischievous or amused. Her round head soon became one of the most recognizable faces of the Doge meme.

Online followers originally peppered images of her face with text in the often-mocked comic sans font and grammatically incorrect two-word phrases that became their own language: a way to communicate a reaction to just about any situation. (Much awake! So scare! Wow!)