The puppy died peacefully, "as if she were sleeping," Sato wrote at the time in a poem-like farewell on his blog 'Walking with Kabo-chan'. He was 18 years old.

Born on November 2, 2005, Kabosu was about to be euthanized when she was adopted by an animal welfare organization. She was about 3 years old when Sato became her owner.

The Japanese woman had been uploading photographs of the dog on her blog for some time when she suddenly became an internet phenomenon for an iconic photograph, taken not long after her adoption, when she was still getting used to her new home, as Sato explained in interviews. with local media.

Netizens dubbed Kabosu '#DOGE: ', a play on words meaning 'dog', and turned her into a global meme.

His image would later be used to create the cryptocurrency #Dogecoin‬⁩ , in which American business magnate Elon Musk invested large amounts, further enhancing his fame.

The puppy even has a monument in a park in the city of Sakura where she lived, in Chiba prefecture (east of Tokyo), where she also has her own manhole cover.