Meaning
What does Nelson the Bull Terrier mean?
Nelson the Bull Terrier refers to a popular meme of a dog, looking at the camera, without its ears being visible.
Memes of the dog would become popular on Reddit and Twitter, while the dog’s owners also created social media profiles for the canine, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Origin
What's the origin of Nelson the Bull Terrier?
The Twitter page of “Nelson the Bull Terrier” was launched in 2016, with the name @PupperNelson.
The iconic photo of the dog was uploaded to Twitter on September 30th, 2018, with captions joking about accidentally opening the front-facing camera.
It received a lot of likes and retweets on the platform, while spreading on the r/okbuddyretard sub of Reddit at the same time.
Spread & Usage
How did Nelson the Bull Terrier spread?
While many users loved the meme, others did not share their enthusiasm and many moderators banned “dog face” posts.
Despite this, “Nelson the Bull Terrier” memes would grow rampant online, appearing on numerous subreddits, as well as sites like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

External resources
- Twitter – PupperNelson
- Reddit – Walter and Dog Face Memes Are Now Banned
- Instagram – NELSON (@puppernelson)