Fancy bulldog photo goes viral, sparks ownership drama

JACKSON, Tenn. — A simple invitation for viewers to submit their Halloween photos leads to a viral Facebook post and later to a controversy about the identity of one newly famous dog.

The image of a bulldog wearing a blond wig and white dress, reminiscent of Marilyn Monroe, took off like wildfire when it hit the WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News Facebook page the day before Halloween.

The dog would later be identified as Khaleesi, a 2-year-old English bulldog from Long Island, N.Y. By Halloween night, the picture of Khaleesi had reached 1 million people, according to Facebook statistics.

By Monday morning, that number had exceeded 5 million. Khaleesi’s charm has also fueled an impressive 50,000 post shares and more than 66,000 likes.

Khaleesi’s owner, Dawn Curran, heard from friends that her dog’s likeness was being circulated online and the photos were captioned with the wrong name.

WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News spoke with Curran by phone Monday — after she sent us a new photo of Khaleesi posing with a note verifying her true name and owner — and she said she is glad to have the confusion cleared up.

Curran said although she was upset at first to see Khaleesi identified by the wrong name, she also is glad so many people have enjoyed her beloved pet.

“I love that,” Curran said. “I’m like a proud mom. I love her, and it makes me happy that other people are happy looking at her.”

She also said the picture, which was emailed to the TV station as a recent Halloween photo, is at least a year old.

In the wake of Khaleesi’s viral popularity, WBBJ has received Halloween photo submissions from places including Long Beach, Calif., Brooklyn, N.Y., and County Wicklow, Ireland.