Tuna is a

Chihuahua Chihuahua may refer to: Places *Chihuahua (state), a Mexican state **Chihuahua (dog), a breed of dog named after the state **Chihuahua cheese, a type of cheese originating in the state **Chihuahua City, the capital city of the state **Chihuahua Mun ...

–

Dachshund The dachshund ( or ; German: "badger dog"), also known as the wiener dog, badger dog, and sausage dog, is a short-legged, long-bodied, hound-type dog breed. The dog may be smooth-haired, wire-haired, or long-haired, and comes in a variety of c ...

crossbreed A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. ''Crossbreeding'', sometimes called "designer crossbreeding", is the process of breeding such an organism, While crossbreeding is used to main ...

dog, best known as an

internet celebrity An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer, social media personality, internet personality, or simply influencer) is a celebrity who has acquired or developed their fame and notability through the Internet. The rise of social ...

, and an

internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

. He was abandoned by his original owner near San Diego, and was adopted at a farmer's market in Los Angeles by Courtney Dasher. After she created an

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

page for him, a photo of him was featured on the company's website resulting in an increase in followers. Dasher has used Tuna's celebrity status to raise money for

animal rescue group An animal rescue group or animal rescue organization is a group dedicated to pet adoption. These groups take unwanted, abandoned, abused, or stray pets and attempt to find suitable homes for them. Many rescue groups are created by and run by vo ...

s and to promote animal welfare generally. A book of photographs of Tuna was released in 2015, entitled ''Tuna Melts My Heart: The Underdog With The Overbite''.

Early life

Tuna was found on a roadside near San Diego, California, having been abandoned by his original owner. He suffered emotional trauma from this abandonment, leading him to the habit of crawling on his belly; because of this, his rescuer called him "Wormy". Tuna was taken to a farmer's market in Los Angeles by the rescue center at the age of around four months, where Courtney Dasher saw him and adopted him. She decided to change his name from "Wormy" to "Mr. Burns" because of his resemblance to the

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

in ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...

''. She had initially only intended to foster the dog, but after a week decided that she would keep him. Over time, he was called "Tooney" affectionately which eventually became "Tuna".

Internet career

His internet career began in 2012 when Dasher created an

page for him. She had no aspirations of turning Tuna into a celebrity, but his followers drastically increased after the company featured an image of him on their front page. He also gained exposure as an

by the name of "Phteven" (Steven with a ph at the start), which was originally created on

Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images ...

as a response to a user's story about a person in

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misunderstanding his explanation of "Stephen". By 2015, he had 1.3 million followers on Instagram. His followers are global; while a large number comes from the United States, he also has a strong following in the UK, Sweden and Australia. Dasher has used this popularity to support the work of

s, both by raising the general awareness of rescue animals and by generating funding for specific groups. Due to his success, he has become an

Internet celebrity An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer, social media personality, internet personality, or simply influencer) is a celebrity who has acquired or developed their fame and notability through the Internet. The rise of social ...

, and has been invited to a variety of events including a launch party for the pre fall 2015 Choo Hound capsule collection at the Ivy Chelsea Garden restaurant in London.

Book

Dasher was approached by a publisher in the United States in the autumn of 2014, who gave her creative freedom to produce a Tuna book in whatever manner she preferred. She decided to create a book to represent a day in the life of Tuna, using photos similar to those posted on Instagram, and entitled it ''Tuna Melts My Heart: The Underdog With The Overbite''. After the launch in early 2015, a book tour was arranged to take place during March in the United States, with events held to benefit local animal rescue societies such as the Animal Rescue League of Boston, and PAWS Chicago. The book was subsequently released in the UK on June 4, 2015. As part of the promotion for the UK launch, Dasher and Tuna took over the ''

Marie Claire ''Marie Claire'' is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937, followed by the United Kingdom in 1941. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on wo ...

'' Instagram account for a day on June 3, and also appeared on the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

programme '' This Morning''.

References

External links

* *{{Instagram, tunameltsmyheart, Tuna Melts My Heart Individual dogs in the United States Internet memes introduced in 2012 Animals on the Internet Dogs in popular culture

Early life

Internet career

Book

See also

References

External links