The Owner Of Mister Bubz The Misanthropic Dog Explains What It Takes To Have A Famous Internet Dog

Confession: I follow a lot of dogs on Instagram. I guess it’s not so much a confession as it is a simple description who I am: the type of person who’d rather peruse pictures of strangers’ dogs than of my own friends and family.

— kim. (@KimmyMonte) February 25, 2020

For people like me, there are plenty of famous internet dogs from which to choose. Mostly they fall into a few basic categories. There are dogs that think they’re people and enjoy (tolerate) playing dress up, like Menswear dog, ugly-cute dogs like Marnie and Tuna, unconventionally cute dogs like Norbert and Boo (RIP), your giant fluffers a la ChowderTheBearDog and Elvis Barksley (RIP, Elvis Barksley, long live Elvis Barksley Jr.), and all manner of chonks, snausages, and good bois.

Then there’s Mister Bubz, an internet dog who seems to belong to a category all his own: the misanthropic dog. Sure, you could call him a canine Grumpy Cat, but Grumpy Cat only looks grumpy. Mister Bubz shot to kind-of fame in August 2018, thanks to a video in which a man kisses Mister Bubz and says he loves him, while Bubz growls and hisses. Bubz then notices the woman behind the camera and seems to go into a trance-like state. She says “I caught you,” and Bubz snarls at her.

I don’t think it’s too hyperbolic to say that it’s unlike any internet dog video I’ve seen (and friends, I’ve seen a lot). Mister Bubz is cute, sure, but also a brilliant comedic actor.

The man, it turns out (known on Mister Bubz’ instagram page as “Garbageman”) is James, the roommate of Lizze Gordon (“motherwife”), an LA filmmaker who adopted Mister Bubz from a friend earlier that year. Gordon wishes to clarify that James, who lives with Gordon and her fianceé, is not her boyfriend, as previously reported. “Buzzfeed published that he was my boyfriend,” Gordon said. “And that’s been hurting his game out in these streets. Which does make me feel very respected, I have to say.”

So allow us to correct the record here.

I had so many questions for Gordon. Mostly about Mister Bubz’ family dynamic (Mister Bubz inspires one to invent backstories to explain him, that’s part of his appeal), but also what it’s like owning an internet dog in an analog world. Mister Bubz employs a team of lawyers. Mister Bubz has met Ozzy Osbourne and Jenny McCarthy.

Of course, it’s not all fun and games. A few months back, a dog I follow (a phrase that is its own joke but also true), the aforementioned Elvis Barksley, got sick and died at the age of four. It’s a pretty big bummer to have dog death in your feed but if you’re going to share in the ups you can share in the downs too, I suppose. Then a few days after that, Barksley’s mom posted a picture of the dog’s dead body. Apparently some of her followers had accused her of faking the dog’s death (no, I do not know why someone would do this either) leading her to take this step. It’s a strange world we’ve built for ourselves, isn’t it

I wanted to know more about navigating this world, and about the psychological underpinnings of the internet’s favorite dog misanthrope. I reached out to Lizze Gordon and she was happy to elaborate.