Borzoi / Long Nose Dog

About

Borzoi, also known as Long Nose Dog, are a specific breed of dog that have long noses, skinny bodies and short yet shaggy fur. The first-known, viral Borzoi was named Esper who was featured in many viral Vines in 2016. Memes using borzois as an exploitable started in October 2020, most notably on Instagram, inspired by dog influencers on the platform, specifically one named Lapsha. Borzois are often photographed with a wide-angle lens (also known as a 0.5 lens) close to the tip of their nose to make the snout look extra long and strange, a common trend among memes depicting them. In late 2022 and early 2023, Borzoi memes also trended on TikTok, mostly associated with the Miss Piggy cover of 'Cellophane,' also known as Let Me Do It For You.

Origin

The earliest known Borzoi present in viral internet content was named Esper who was prevalent on the Viner^[15] j_ethan's page starting in 2016. For instance, on July 2nd, 2016, j_ethan posted a Vine^[16] in which Esper is seen running around in short, fast circles, earning roughly 12 million loops and 25,300 likes in seven years (shown below, left). On August 28th, 2016, j_ethan posted a Vine^[17] called "My little #Russian lady" in which Esper is wearing a blanket like a hood and looks like a Russian babushka, gaining roughly 10.4 million loops and 1,300 likes (shown below, right).

Spread

One of the most notable dogs used as a borzoi exploitable is named Lapsha and has a prominent Instagram^[1] presence on her own page @loopsnoot. Even though the page started posting in August 2018,^[2] wide-angle photographs close to Lapsha's nose didn't appear until October 2018. The earliest example was posted on October 13th, 2018,^[3] (shown below) and received 378 likes over the course of four years. Additionally, Lapsha is also referred to as "Snoot" on her page.

@loopsnoot continued to post content about Lapsha going into 2020. In October 2020, Instagram meme pages and shitposters began using images of Lapsha in their content. The earliest example of this is a post from the Instagram^[4] page @lord_ix (shown below) which received 325 likes over the course of one year. In the text of the post, @lord_ix makes a comment about "Why Is Her Lil Nose So Long."

Throughout October 2020 and into November 2020, @lord_ix continued to post Borzoi content. @lord_ix began to refer to Lapsha as "Soft Soggert" or "Soft Sog" starting on October 26th, 2020,^[5] (shown below, left). Another Instagram^[6] page, @spoonlordu78, also began posting Borzoi content in November 2020. Their post (shown below, right) was posted on November 5th, 2020, and received 31 likes.

On November 24th, 2020, Instagram^[7] page @borzoi_enthusiast posted a screenshot of a Snapchat news story titled "This Dog Is Taller Than Shaq" (shown below). Their post received seven likes.

On February 26th, 2021, Twitter ^[8] user @faporizer tweeted "imagine how long it takes for smells to reach his brain" including an image of a borzoi underneath. The tweet (shown below) received roughly 246,700 likes over the course of eight months.

On July 18th, 2021, @loopsnoot^[9] posted an image that received an increased amount of attention. The photo (shown below, left) received roughly 16,100 likes over the course of three months. The image was made into a Whisper meme on July 27th, 2021, by Instagram^[10] meme page @_cumsky_. The meme (shown below, right) has text overlay reading "why the long face." It received 50 likes over the course of three months. A few days later, on August 1st, 2021, Instagram^[11] meme page @hambubrger reposted the meme and received roughly 24,500 likes over the course of three months.

Additionally, a year prior to @_cumsky_'s meme, on November 13th, 2020, Instagram^[12] meme page @nut.pie made a meme using the same caption "why the long face" but used an image of a German shepherd's nose. The meme (shown below) received roughly 1,200 likes over the course of one year. @_cumsky_'s meme was most likely inspired by this meme.

In July 2021, images of photoshopped borzoi began appearing on Twitter, like in a tweet^[13] from the account @borzbot posted on July 26th, 2021, (shown below, left) which received 756 likes over the course of three months.

On September 4th, 2021, Twitter^[14] account @JESTERSCRUSADE reposted @_cumsky_'s meme and received roughly 44,300 likes over the course of one month.

On TikTok / Let Me Do It For You

On December 11th, 2022, TikToker^[18] sugarthesilken posted a video of her Borzoi taking a bath and using the Miss Piggy cover of 'Cellophane' as the TikTok sound, earning roughly 9.9 million plays and 2 million likes in one month (shown below, left). Other Borzoi owners on the app followed her lead, such as TikToker^[19] thatoingosmyboingo on December 13th, 2022, who received roughly 3.7 million plays and 829,000 likes in one month (shown below, right).

On January 7th, 2023, TikToker^[20] drawzillazzz posted an original animation that used the Miss Piggy "Cellophane" cover and showed a Borzoi helping its owner get to the bottom chips in a Pringles can. Over the course of four days, the TikTok received roughly 45.7 million plays and 5.4 million likes (shown below, left). Later on January 7th, 2023, TikToker^[21] alyssa.rileyyy dueted the animation with their own Borzoi, gaining roughly 12.4 million plays and 803,000 likes in four days (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References