About

Dog Defending Sheep From Werewolf is a fantasy painting object-labeling meme based on the painting Shepherd And His Faithful Dog by Jakub Rozalski, also known as mr_werewolf on Instagram. The artist posted the painting to Instagram in June 2018, and it became the subject of memes that year, with the earliest known example being posted to Reddit's /r/me_irl subreddit in August 2018. The object-labeling memes typically use the werewolf to portray something intrusive, the sheep to portray the thing the werewolf wants to intrude upon and the dog as the thing stopping the werewolf.

Origin

On June 2nd, 2018, Instagram^[1] user and artist mr_werewolf, Jakub Rozalski, posted a piece of artwork depicting a dog standing between a flock of sheep and a werewolf, as if about to defend the sheep from the werewolf. The post gained over 59,000 likes in seven years.

On August 9th, a now-deleted Redditor posted a meme using the art to the /r/me_irl^[2] subreddit, labeling the sheep "my penis," the werewolf, "my mouth" and the dog, "my ribs," garnering over 1,000 upvotes in seven years.

On August 15th, 2018, it was reposted to the memescog Tumblr^[3] page, garnering over 53,000 notes in roughly the same span of time.

Spread

The meme garnered viral spread over the following months, inspiring new variations. On August 26th, 2018, it was reposted to the /r/MemeEconomy^[4] subreddit, garnering over 2,400 upvotes in seven years.

On December 9th, Redditor u/nightwulf76 posted a meme to the /r/gaming^[5] subreddit using the format that gained over 7,000 upvotes in about seven years.

On April 19th, 2019, Redditor u/blkmmb posted a new version of the meme to the /r/MemeEconomy^[6] subreddit that gained over 26,000 upvotes in six years.

On June 2nd, a now-deleted Redditor posted a version of the meme to the /r/HistoryMemes^[7] subreddit about the amount of 9/11 memes on the sub, garnering over 65,000 upvotes in six years.

On January 24th, 2025, Instagram^[8] user elcucuy_csoxt posted a version of the meme next to the UFC lightweight rankings, labeling each figure as one of the fighters, with the dog being labeled "Dana White," garnering over 79,000 likes in four months.

On May 28th, X^[9] user @ShitpostGate posted a version of the meme in which the dog is protecting the sheep from "satanic elites," garnering over 35,000 likes and 2,200 reposts in a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References