About

Shiba Inus, commonly known online as Shibes, is a breed of dog native to Japan. Online, the breed grew in popularity thanks to the Doge meme, which features a Shiba Inu dog looking at the camera.

Origin

The Shiba Inu was originally bred in 19th century for the purposes of hunting. However, during the mid-20th century, primarily after World War II, the breed nearly went extinct, before being bred with other dogs.^[4][5]

The earliest appearance of Shiba Inus online are from pet care and dog breed information websites with some of the earliest mentions dating back to the early 2000s. However, the breed grew to prominence in memes in 2010 with the emergence of Doge in 2010, which began, in part, thanks to a photograph of a Shiba Inu looking at the camera (shown below).

Spread

Following the emergence of doge, Redditor ^[10] jwegan launched the /r/shiba subreddit on October 24th, 2010. As of March 2019, the group has more than 50,000 subscribers.

On July 7th, 2012, the Tumblr blog Shiba Confessions^[6] launched. The site featured image macros of Shiba Inu dogs with captions written in the typical interior monologue captioning fashion with the Comic Sans font (shown below). The first post submitted to the site indicated that Shiba confessions would be "a chance to put funny text in Comic Sans over unrelated pictures of Shibas."^[7]

As this style of image grew in popularity, people began referring to these dogs as "shibes," an intentionally incorrect variation on the word "shiba." Other blogs using the word "shibe" launched at this time, including the now-defunct "shibe-doge" Tumblr.^[8] On November 30th, the /r/shibe subreddit launched.^[9] Within seven years, the group has amassed more than 23,000 readers.

The following year, Urban Dictionary ^[10] user Le Eagle defined "shibe" as "an internet meme revolving around Shiba Inus. There are usually captions written in Comic Sans describing what the 'shibe' is doing." The post received more than 200 upvotes in six years (shown below).

Shiba Inu / SHIB Meme Coin

Shiba Inu or $SHIB is an Ethereum-based meme coin inspired by the breed of dogs and their virality on the internet, which was launched in August 2020 by an anonymous founder known as "Ryoshi." The coin was added to Binance in May 2021, and its U.S. platform added Shiba Inu in November 2021. The coin, which is also known as the Dogecoin Killer, operates on the Ethereum blockchain and ranks in the top 50 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization in 2024. The crypto's holders have actively used the dog breed related to the eponymous meme to promote the coin on social media.

Related Memes

Cool Dog

Cool Dog is the nickname given to an image of a leashed Shiba Inu leaning against what looks like a dog house. Cool Dog soon evolved into an Advice Dog spinoff before being photoshopped into various "cool" scenes.

Doge

Doge is a slang term for dogs associated with pictures of Shiba Inus. The most famous image associated with this term is of Kabosu, an adopted dog owned by Japanese kindergarten teacher Atsuko Sato who posted several photos of Kabosu to her personal blog on February 23rd, 2010.^[1]

What in Tarnation

What in Tarnation is a rhetorical question meaning "what in damnation?" often used by Americans living in the Southern United States to express bewilderment. Online, the phrase is widely associated with a photograph of a Shiba Inu wearing a cowboy hat which was first posted to Tumblr by user banjirou on January 8th, 2017.^[2]

Do You Like Your New Toy ?

Do You Like Your New Toy ? is a video remix series featuring a short clip of a Shiba Inu howling after being asked if he liked his new toy. The video was first posted by Twitter user @Amanda_d1234 on April 23, 2018.^[3]

“So what is it like to own a Shiba?” pic.twitter.com/TuzixPe0Tv

— Mandypants🕷🖤 (@Amanda_d1234) April 23, 2018

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References