Dog that inspired ‘Doge’ meme and became the face of Dogecoin dies

Atsuko Sato announces death of her shiba inu Kabosu, whose 2010 photo led her to be described as ‘the Mona Lisa of the internet’

The Japanese dog whose photo inspired a generation of oddball online jokes and the £18bn Dogecoin cryptocurrency beloved by Elon Musk has died, her owner said.

“She quietly passed away as if asleep while I caressed her,” Atsuko Sato wrote on her blog on Friday, thanking the fans of her shiba inu called Kabosu – the face of the ‘Doge’ meme.