Kabosu was born in a puppy mill. When the business shut down, she and 19 other dogs ended up at an animal shelter, where many of them were to be put down.
A volunteer rescue group called Chibawan got her out and put her up for adoption. A volunteer named her after kabosu, a round Japanese citrus fruit, reportedly because of her round face.
In November 2008, Atsuko Sato, a kindergarten teacher in Sakura, a city east of Tokyo, took her home and kept the name. Kabosu turned out to be kind and laid-back. Sato began posting about her on the blog she kept about life with her pets.