🐶 Walter
Really called Nelson
Bull Terrier · Texas, USA - with owner Victoria Leigh
Lives in The Meme House
Nelson is a bull terrier born on 15 July 2017 in Houston. On 30 September 2018 his owner posted a head-on close-up of his long white face to Twitter, captioned 'when u open the front-facing camera on accident'. Reddit renamed him Walter, and the picture became one of the most reused dog faces on the internet. A 2020 rumour that he had been shot in Philadelphia was false - those vet photos were of a different bull terrier, Billy, who survived.
What they do
Leans his whole egg-shaped head straight into the camera until it fills the frame, eyes locked forward, then holds the stare and blinks once..
Chill and lazy at home right up until a stranger appears, then fearless to the point of stupidity and demanding a belly rub.
Lore
- ★His real name is Nelson - 'Walter' was pinned on him by Reddit in late 2018 and has nothing to do with his owner.
- ★The photo that started it was captioned 'when u open the front-facing camera on accident'.
- ★He had passed 100,000 Twitter followers by late 2020.
- ★His owner sells print-on-demand merchandise of him, making roughly $200 a month that goes back into his care.
Helping the real one
No verified way to support this animal exists.
We will not invent one.
His owner runs a print-on-demand store to cover his care. That is a shop, not a charity, and I could not verify a current store URL, so none is given.
Where this comes from
- Know Your Meme Nelson the Bull Terrier / Walter ↗
- Know Your Meme Interview with Nelson 'Walter' and owner Victoria Leigh (5 November 2020) ↗
- Distractify Is meme star Walter the dog actually dead? (owner's denial, June 2020) ↗
Every link here was checked twice before it was published. If one is dead or wrong, tell us.