Norbert (March 27, 2009 – January 26, 2025) was an American

mixed breed A mixed breed is a domesticated animal descended from multiple breeds of the same species, often breeding without any human intervention, recordkeeping, or selective breeding. Examples include: * Mixed-breed dog A mongrel, mutt, or mixed ...

registered therapy dog, best known for his Norbert picture book series, and his popularity on

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

. Norbert's breed is unknown, but is suspected to be a cross between chihuahua,

cairn terrier The Cairn Terrier is a terrier breed originating in the Scottish Highlands and recognised as one of Scotland's earliest working dogs. The name "Cairn Terrier" was a compromise suggestion when the breed was brought to official shows in the Unite ...

and

lhasa apso The Lhasa Apso ( ) is a non-sporting list of dog breeds, dog breed originating in Tibet. Traditionally the breed has been used as an interior watchdog. Etymology Lhasa is the capital city of Tibet, and ''apso'' is a word from the Standard ...

. Norbert's time, money and book revenue is given to various charitable causes throughout the United States. His first book, ''Norbert: What Can Little Me Do?'' was published by Polly Parker Press and won nine book awards in 2014 including Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Nautilus Book Awards, and Ben Franklin Award.

Background

After the release of the first book about Norbert in 2013, he had regularly made public appearances and also worked as a

therapy dog A therapy dog is a dog that is trained to provide affection, comfort and support to people, often in settings such as hospitals, retirement homes, nursing homes, schools, libraries, hospices, or disaster areas. In contrast to assistance dogs, ...

. As part of the publicity surrounding Norbert, he began to receive media coverage about his

therapy A therapy or medical treatment is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis. Both words, ''treatment'' and ''therapy'', are often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx. As a rule, each therapy has indications a ...

work and also his books. From 2015, Norbert and

Lil Bub Lil Bub, officially Lil BUB (June 21, 2011 – December 1, 2019), was an American celebrity cat known for her unique physical appearance. Her photos were first posted to Tumblr in November 2011, before taking off after being featured on the soci ...

the cat were part of Norbert's third book in his series. Collectively the owners of both animals started a

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

campaign, in order to raise money for the release of their latest book. Within the first 15 hours, they had exceeded their goal and raised more than $30,000 for the book to be published. The book was titled, ''Norbert and Lil BUB: What Can Little We Do?'' Norbert was also recognized as a

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

star after a video of him being fed cheese received over 1.5 million views, while also having a large following on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

and

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

. After the rise of his popularity, Norbert was featured in a number of publications and television shows. These included, ''TIME'' magazine, ''

Right This Minute ''Right This Minute'' (alternatively abbreviated as ''RTM'') is an American syndicated television program which debuted on September 12, 2011. Produced by MagicDust Television in conjunction with television station groups Cox Media Group, Gray ...

'', ''

InStyle ''InStyle'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine founded in 1994. It was published in the United States by Dotdash Meredith, and started originally as a brand extension of ''People (magazine), People'' before carving out its own ide ...

'',

The Hallmark Channel Hallmark Channel is an American cable television network owned by Hallmark Media, a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards. The channel broadcasts family-oriented general entertainment programming, including television series and made-for-TV movies. ...

and ''People'' magazine. Norbert died on January 26, 2025, at the age of 15.

Therapy and philanthropy

Norbert's daily activities were mainly focused on being a volunteer

to people young and old who are ill or in need. He had volunteered at nursing homes, hospitals, special events and schools. Norbert and his partner, Julie Steines, were a registered therapy animal team with the Pet Partners organization. Norbert was also an American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen and a certified R.E.A.D. dog with the Intermountain Therapy Animals organization.

Books

From 2013, Norbert was featured in a number of

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

s. The first book about Norbert was published in November 2013, ''Norbert: What Can Little Me Do?'' The book was written by Julie Freyermuth and illustrated by Julie and Virginia Freyermuth. The

led to Norbert touring and visiting numerous schools, from grades PreK to Grade 8. The book tells the story of Norbert, moving to a big city. As part of the move, he records his adventures in his personal artist's journal. The book is inspired by his becoming a

in real life. The second book about Norbert is titled ''Norbert: What Can Little YOU Do?'' and features real-life friends of Norbert. The third installment of the Norbert book series was a collaboration with another famous animal,

. Following a

campaign, Norbert and

collaborated on the book, ''Norbert and Lil BUB: What Can Little We Do?'' The Kickstarter campaign raised over $100,000 prior to book sales. $15,000 was donated to Lil Bub's Fund to help homeless animals with special needs and nearly 2,000 books were donated to children in need.

References

{{authority control 2009 animal births 2025 animal deaths Animals on the Internet Dogs in popular culture Individual dogs in the United States