Boo Is Alive: Dog's Death Refuted On Facebook As #RIPBOO Tweets Flow

UPDATE: Boo's Facebook profile has been updated with the following statement from the pooch accompanied by a recent picture:

hi friends! i heard the rumors, and i would like all my friends to know that i am happy and kickin'! i asked human if i could do a press conference to reassure everyone on camera, but she reminded me that i can't talk.

Earlier:
The Chronicle Books staff has confirmed to HuffPost that Boo the dog is alive. April Whitney, Entertainment Publicist, wrote in an e-mail to HuffPost, "I can confirm that our offices have spoken with Boo's owner and she assures us that he is alive and well. The Chronicle Books staff are all big fans, I'd even say friends with Boo. We've even helped out with doggie daycare from time-to time. So, we're happy to say that it was just a rumor."

Boo, a 6-year-old Pomeranian, became an Internet superstar after Khloe Kardashian found a profile for the dog on Facebook in 2010 and wrote about it on her blog. Over the next year, Boo gained millions of fans on Facebook and released the book Boo: The Life of the World's Cutest Dog.

In response to reports that the world's cutest dog had passed away, Whitney also tweeted:

@scootmagapril
scootmagapril

OFFICIAL: The reports of Boo's death were greatly exaggerated. We got the 411 from his owner. He was just taking a nap. #ripBoo #not

April 11, 2012 11:49 pm via web Reply Retweet Favorite

The rumor was started at 5:10 p.m. on Wednesday when Gizmodo writer Sam Biddle Tweeted that the pooch had died with hashtag #RIPBoo:

Boo The Dog Has Died #deadboo #teamboo #RIPboo #boothedog #boo

— Sam Biddle (@samfbiddle) April 11, 2012

BuzzFeed's Lindsey Weber responded to Biddle by questioning his report and pointing to a picture of Boo posted to Facebook earlier that day, in which the pup appeared to be in good health:

But egged on by fellow Gizmodo writers like Jesus Diaz, Biddle posted a number of Tweets over the next hour suggesting that report was a prank, including this retweet of a fake New York Times obituary of Boo:

OK, so I just saw the photo of Boo dead in the duck pond. It's horrible. Poor little thing. I'm tearing up. #ripboo

— Jesus Diaz (@jesusdiaz) April 11, 2012

God…. RT @nytimes Boo, Beloved Internet Icon, Finds Early Death in Pond post.ly/6gty8

— Sam Biddle (@samfbiddle) April 11, 2012

By the time those Tweets were posted, however, the hashtag #RIPBoo had already began spreading across Twitter, with many users questioning whether the "world's cutest dog" had truly met his end, and many more users playing along with prank:

I don't know that I believe it... Boo is dead? This is a little traumatizing. #RIPBoo

— Alexandra Ostrow (@AlexandraOstrow) April 11, 2012

I'm also very sad to hear of the passing of the internet's most adorable dog, Boo. #ripBOO. You will live forever on the Internet.

— Alec Pesola (@alecp763) April 11, 2012

User David Murphy went beyond the call of duty to spread erroneous reports of Boo's death by photoshopping a particularly "gruesome" image of boo's demise.

Warning: Boo death picture.Extreme disturbing.#ripboo ow.ly/adME1

— David Murphy (@TheDavidMurphy) April 11, 2012

But the rumors have been squashed for now by Chronicle Books.

Long live Boo.

UPDATE: The original version of the post misreported Ms. Weber's name as well as her affiliation.

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Comments

[Treehuggindirtworshiper]

01:55 PM on 04/13/2012

Seriously? Millions of children in the world without adequate food, health care and housing and people are mourning the supposed death of a dog? Cute pooch but really?

[BevInSoCal]

05:05 PM on 04/13/2012

Yes, really. If you are truly a "treehuggindirtworshiper," you'd get it. I suspect you of evil motives.

[Treehuggindirtworshiper]

11:18 PM on 04/13/2012

evil? how did you get that? Did you read my micro-bio?

[Joe MMMMMM]

06:45 PM on 07/11/2012

you are a real nasty person...to think you'd care about all life forms. i don't see how people caring about a little dog takes away from other issues. you are certainly one of those "al gore environmentalist" who eats meat but decries deforestation...imbecile.

[2question]

01:12 PM on 04/13/2012

Diaz... man, what a f'd up person.

[evecaren]

09:18 AM on 04/13/2012

What a darling little dog Boo is. Love the pink jacket.

[KPinSEA]

06:24 AM on 04/13/2012

Diaz is one messed up guy.

[JaymeSome]

09:39 PM on 04/12/2012

OMG! How terrible! I'm a HUGE Boo fan and I am so happy I heard about this news AFTER it was proven to be a hoax! It would have weighed too heavy on my heart! Boo is an amazing, adorable dog, and he has an amazing owner that doesn't want to be in the spotlight -- she wants all of the publicity to be on Boo. And boy, does he shine! There really are decent people out there!
Then again, there are rotten people out there! Who starts a rumor like this? Obviously, they were a heartless animal hater and they deserve to starve. At least for a week. They should be ashamed of themselves.

[felide]

04:48 PM on 04/12/2012

that was mean . DON'T SCARE PEOPLE LIKE THAT .! sure it's easy to say '' oh why are stories and pictures of pandas and kittens and baby animals in the news when there are more important things going on '' and while true it's a welcome escape from allowing all the depressing but very real things in the world to engulf you in fear and despair. i would rather check out THE DAILY SQUEE website or watch a youtube video of a teacup piglet then turn on the news only to hear about the kardashians lastest antics instead. i'm very glad boo is allright.

[coledude]

03:58 PM on 04/12/2012

Can't have a dog like that if you live in the mountains of California, they end up in coyote poop..

[ascotcrew]

03:57 PM on 04/12/2012

Between these bozo's and Hilary Rosen, HP has some real winners as bloggers. If they represent the staff at HP, AOL should be sold to a company that is not as riddled is buffoons as HP appears to be. And they are in bed with Obama! Wish I could take my AOL account somewhere else!

[GirlUsingBrain]

05:33 PM on 04/13/2012

You know, you really don't have to come back.

[ascotcrew]

08:16 AM on 04/14/2012

Oh yes I do! Someone has to answer all of the lies and attacks made by the liberals on HP. Thank God there are many more conservatives joining in to correct the garbage the big bloggers have been spewing for a long time on HP. AOL has a much larger and more diverse audience than HP has and they need to hear both sides of an issue, not just the liberal side. They get plenty of that from the lame stream media.

[wstrndiamond]

01:23 PM on 04/12/2012

***SPECIAL REPORT***

You heard it here first! Gizmodo Writers Sam Biddle and Jesus Diaz were found to have no life whatsoever!

Sad, sad news, ladies and gentlemen.

[collectsrocks]

01:00 PM on 04/12/2012

One might think after Jesus sent out the tweet about Boo dying from a duck pond accident his next tweet would have been how Jesus raised Boo from the dead. ;=)

[nerdicus]

12:42 PM on 04/12/2012

I don't understand how this story is in HuffPost's "Green" section. How does it even qualify as a Green story? Because Boo is an animal and therefore at one with nature?

[Kali03]

06:38 PM on 04/12/2012

Good one!

First fan.

:)

[onceaproudamerican]

12:36 PM on 04/12/2012

WOW! dog found alive. i'll sleep better tonight knowing that this was more important than finding missing children/people..

[DSevere]

09:57 PM on 04/12/2012

You know, it doesn't have to be one or another. Animals bring a lot of joy, fun, companionship, stress relief and other great things to the world, they are really important also, and deserve much more love, care and respect than they get.

[onceaproudamerican]

11:11 AM on 04/13/2012

you must not have kids or is just one hopeless person!

[BevInSoCal]

05:06 PM on 04/13/2012

Dude, if you're no longer a proud American, why not just move to Sweden?

[claribelsoto289]

12:25 PM on 04/12/2012

i myself have a pomerian and she was from my cousin that pasted away none of her family wasn't able to take care of her so i took her with papers and all and she is so cute. i call her my little lion. i love her.and if something happenes to my dog i wouldn't put an ad like this one.

[nasale]

02:31 AM on 04/13/2012

Gee, That 's too bad! What did she pasted away from? Glue?

[GirlUsingBrain]

05:38 PM on 04/13/2012

Stop it. English may not be her mother tongue. It is a sweet post and her little lion is very lucky to have her.

[GirlUsingBrain]

05:39 PM on 04/13/2012

Your little lion is lucky to have you! Sweet.

[Kumori Shinkan]

12:11 PM on 04/12/2012

Soo...slow news day huh?

[abbybunky]

12:08 PM on 04/12/2012

Now I care who "Boo" is (could be a show dog) but why on earth would someone post a terrible thing like this on Facebook? A "prank". What is this nation coming to? No wonder people are out for drugs and killing people.