Advice Dog

About

Advice Dog is a series of popular image macros that first surfaced on 4chan’s /b/ in 2006. A typical example of Advice Dog depicts a cute puppy’s face against the background of a color wheel, often accompanied by unrelated advices and ridiculous instructions (ex: Do the laundry / Rob a bank). Since its debut, the series has spawned off several spin-offs, most notably the Philosoraptor, Courage Wolf and Socially Awkward Penguin.

Origin

Encyclopedia Dramatica claims that the original image of puppy+rainbow was first posted in a Mario fansite forum thread in September 2006 by a user named “TEM”. It also claims that the real pet name of Advice Dog is Boba Fett, a Star Wars character portrayed as a bounty hunter hired by Darth Vader. The sources of these claims however remain unverified.

• September 7th 2006: a user named TEM uploaded a picture of his dog Boba Fett to the Mario fan forum Mushroom Kingdom in a thread called “Guide to Kissing.”
  http://themushroomkingdom.net/board/index.php?topic=9725.15
  (note: the images no longer show up, but you can deduce that this is the source from reading the posts)
  The image was simply the dog’s head pasted onto a colorful background.

Spread

• September 17th, 2006: LizardDude created the YTMND Bob Stares
• September 21, 2006: TEM006 created the YTMND Happy Pup
• June 24th, 2008: First Advice Dog entry created on ED
• July 5th, 2006: 76M Get on 4chan’s /b/
• March 19th, 2009: Ferenc Somos creates MemeGenerator, which played a vital role in popularization of Advice Dog-style templates.

Sub-meme Entries / Spin-offs

Based on the popularity of Advice Dog series, pairing bluntly offensive statements or careless advices with animal icons have grown into a distinct genre within the world of image macros. This section features a list of KYM entries on “Advice Dog” variations and spin-offs:

Notable Variations (Confirmed / Active)

• Courage Wolf
• Philosoraptor
• Socially Awkward Penguin
• Pokeparents
• Rich Raven

Other Variations (Deadpooled)

• Insistent Serpent
• Impolite Possum
• High Five Harrison
• Roommate-hulk
• Rhyming-sharks

External References

^[1] Memebase – Advice Dog