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About

Tonkey, also nicknamed "Tonkey Bear" and "Bear Coat Tonkey," is a bear coat Shar Pei puppy from Edmonton, Canada who rose to viral fame online after several photographs of the fluffy, bear-like puppy went viral on Instagram and Facebook in July 2015.

Origin

The dog was born in March 2015 in Edmonton, Canada, where she lives with her caretakers Christine Park and her boyfriend Dave Ngu. On May 31st, Park created an Instagram account for Tonkey with a portrait photograph of her, garnering more than 183,000 followers over the course of the next two months.

Spread

On July 14th, Tonkey saw her first major breakout outside of Instagram when Imgur user Whycanttheenglishlearntospeak[2] uploaded an animated GIF of the the four-month-old puppy playing in an empty bathtub, garnering more than 550,000 views in the following two weeks.

On July 16th, Park set up a Facebook fan page[2] for Tonkey Bear, which accrued more than 38,000 likes over the course of the same time period. On July 23rd, Bored Panda ran a short article titled "My Dog Looks Like A Bear And Has More Friends Than Me,"[3] along with a first-hand account of Park's reaction to her puppy's viral stardom. Within the first week of the publication, the article was viewed more than 259,000 views.

Various Examples


Search Interest

External References

[1] Instagram – @Bearcoat_Tonkey's Account

[2] Imgur – Dat Ear Wiggle

[3] Imgur – Tonkey Tuesday: You asked for more Tonkey, so I'm delivering! Here's more of the fluffy puppy/ teddy bear hybrid!

[4] Facebook – Tonkey Bear

[5] Bored Panda – My Dog Looks Like a Bear and He Has More Friends Than Me

[6] ABC News – Tonkey the Teddy Bear-Looking Dog Is So Adorable It Hurts

[7] TIME – This Adorable Teddy Bear Dog Is About to Take Over the Internet

[8] Courier Mail – Meet Tonkey the Shar Pei dog that looks just like a teddy bear

[9] The Mirror – Adorable puppy who looks like teddy bear wins Instagram hearts with these cute pictures

[10] Mashable – 'Tonkey Bear' is a dog that is basically an IRL teddy bear

[11] Pleated Jeans – Meet Tonkey Bear: The Dog That Looks Like a Teddy Bear

[12] Bow Wow Times – Meet Tonkey the Viral Teddy Bear Who's Claiming to be a Dog

[13] New Dog World – Want To See A Puppybear? Meet Tonkey The Bearcoat Shar Pei!

[14] Weibo – Tonkey

[15] Refinery29 – Instagram Users Think Tonkey Might Be The World's Cutest Puppy

[16] Dog Time – A Shar Pei Named Tonkey Got 100K Followers In Eight Weeks

[17] Daily Mail – ‘Those eyes could melt the coldest of hearts’: Four–month-old puppy that looks like a teddy bear already has 100,000 followers on Instagram

[18] Discovery – The Latest from Instagram: Meet Tonkey the Sharpei, an Adorable Teddy Bear Look-Alike

[19] BuzzFeed – This Ridiculously Cute Puppy Looks Like A Dog–Teddy Bear Hybrid

[20] Woofipedia – MEET THE DOG WHO LOOKS LIKE A REAL-LIFE TEDDY BEAR

[21] The Huffington Post – This Dog Looks Like A Teddy Bear And We Just Can't

[22] The Daily Mail – Those eyes could melt the coldest of hearts’: Four–month-old puppy that looks like a teddy bear already has 100,000 followers on Instagram



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