A meme was born.
His name was Balltze.

Born in 2011 and raised in Kowloon, Hong Kong, Balltze was a mischievous Shiba Inu with a soft face and a talent for looking mildly unimpressed.

In 2017, his owner Kathy took an ordinary photo on a tiled floor. Two years later, the internet found it—and turned that perfectly awkward expression into Cheems, a language of its own.

He became the small, nervous counterweight to Swole Doge, the patron saint of modern exhaustion, and a comforting companion to millions during uncertain years. But behind every edit was still one very real, very loved dog.