“Dogola” refers to a photograph of a smiling white dog, credited to Maxim Oransky,¹⁾ that was taken in June 2009.²⁾ It is one of many smiling dogs. This became a short-lived sociopath emperor meme in Brazil, though it has since died out after Dogolachan had largely muddied the name.

The original photograph was taken at Empty Hills 2009 in Smolensk Oblast, an open-air music festival that faced constant downpours which turned the Vorya River's floodplain into mud, which is why attendees ended up nicknaming the event 'Dirty Hills'³⁾ instead.⁴⁾⁵⁾⁶⁾

It was first uploaded to LiveJournal on June 14, 2009⁷⁾ and shared to the pro-liberal Leprosorium⁸⁾ as a simple smiling dog.⁹⁾ For some reason, it would be spammed on 55chan as 'dog.jpg' until the users decided to name it 'Dogola' and the image ended up being banned at some point in time.

After 55chan's death in 2011, the dog resurfaced on BRchan and would see an unexpected revival, spawning this series of crudely-drawn comics and becoming 'Imperador Cão' (Emperor Dog), then it briefly spread to foreign websites like 4chan and Krautchan. However, the meme was short-lived, then Dogolachan borrowed it for its namesake in 2013 and forever changed the meaning.

In the Brazilian internet, the word 'Dogola' became synonymous with Dogolachan's 'edgy' community and the meme aspect was largely forgotten since Dogola was largely considered a 'forced' meme. Regardless, the smiling dog remained a 'smiling dog' (собака-улыбака, sobaka-ulybaka) reaction image to the average person, and we'd later see it become a sticker on social platforms like VK.¹⁰⁾

• The photograph was taken at 55°02'48.0"N 35°07'18.0"E, about 3 to 4 hours from the Vnukovo International Airport (VKO) in Moscow if you're planning a weird pilgrimage.
  • Due to the Russian intervention resulting in international sanctions, those who reside in the imperial core might indefinitely experience difficulties flying to Russia for the time being.
• I wrote this article in memory of the 'Is Dogola Panel' at Anime Fusion 2014,¹¹⁾ which was a rushed 'post-modern dadist humor' meme panel with early 2010s Tumblr humor thrown in.

• Dogola on GitHub - Additional images of the dog, provided by Maxim Oranskiy.
• Smiling Dog on LurkMore [RU]
• Dogola on WikiPro [PT]
• Dogola on Desciclopedia [PT]