The Doge meme primarily features images of a Shiba Inu dog accompanied by multicolored text in Comic Sans font that represents an internal monologue. The dog, typically depicted with a curious expression, sometimes shows altered facial features. The most notable Doge exemplified in the meme is a Shiba Inu named Kabosu, who appears glaring sideways with raised eyebrows. This meme style is marked by quirky, broken English phrasings, such as 'much wow,' 'such fun.' Over time, the meme evolved from its original wholesome format to more ironic versions, and in 2024 it inspired the naming of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) by president-elect Donald Trump.
The term 'doge' first appeared in pop culture on June 24, 2005, during an episode of the Homestar Runner puppet show where Homestar refers to Strong Bad as his 'd-o-g-e'. This usage can be seen in Biz Cas Fri 1. The meme iconography, however, truly began with a post by Atsuko Sato, a Japanese kindergarten teacher, who on February 13, 2010, uploaded multiple photos of her rescue-adopted Shiba Inu, Kabosu, to her blog. One image in particular, showing Kabosu sitting on a couch with a peculiar sidelong glance, caught the internet’s attention. Here is a brief history of Atsuko Sato's post from her blog. The image became emblematic of the meme after gaining significant attention. In December 2013, following the popularity of Doge, The Verge published a piece that pinpointed Kabosu as the dog behind the meme and mentioned another Shiba Inu named Suki, who was associated with other variations of the meme. Read The Verge's article for more on the history of Doge. The origin story of the term and its association with the particular Shiba Inu can also be traced through this YouTube video.
Origin: 2010
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You can browse our growing library of popular meme templates, quickly caption images, videos, or GIFs in Caption This, or design completely custom image memes from scratch in our free-form editor with extra AI tools like Magic Prompt, Magic Face Swap, Magic Erase, and Magic Face.
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Text is fully customizable with font selection, weight controls, colors, and styling like outlines and italics. Each text layer has its own opacity slider, and you can drag text around the canvas or drag layers in the sidebar to control which elements appear on top. Add as many text boxes as you need with the "Add Text" button.
Upload and layer additional images onto your meme with the "Upload Image" button. Each image can be repositioned, resized, and have its opacity adjusted. Paste images directly with CMD/CTRL + V for quick edits.
Enable custom headers above your media with adjustable colors and heights—perfect for adding context or reaction text. This works in both Caption This and when editing templates from the meme library.
Yes! Use Caption This to add text, headers, and captions to videos and animated GIFs. Simply upload your video or GIF file, add your customizations, and download the finished meme. The tool preserves the animation and exports your captioned video or animated GIF ready to share.
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