Dog adorably follows street view photographer on an island and photobombs every shot

Map services often employ photographers to capture road and street view imagery. In 2010, the Korean map service Daum Kakao Maps sent a photographer to capture the first street-view images of a little island in South Korea. The photographer soon realized that he was being followed, even though no one except a family of three lived on the island.

Daum Kakao is a service quite similar to Google Maps and Google Earth. It provides interactive panoramas from positions along many streets in Korea. This time, they sent a photographer to capture some snaps of Jukdo, a small inhabited island near Ulleungdo Island, located 4 kilometers apart from Jeodonghang Port and 7 kilometers away from Dodonghang Port in the East Sea of Korea.

Jukdo is less than half a mile long and only a third of a mile wide. So, while the photographer was steering along the scenic trails of the pristine island, snapping everything from tall bamboo grasses to vast flower pastures and sunlit emerald-grey cliffs, he soon learned that wherever he went, he was being accompanied by someone.

As it turned out, a fluffy golden retriever was trotting by his side, almost as if guiding him along the island’s trails and wooded pathways. The dog appears in almost every snapshot of the street view galleries of Kakao Maps. Since then, the pooch has become a photogenic symbol of Jukdo island.

Nearly every picture that the Daum Kakao photographer took is marked with the portrait of his fur buddy who seemed to be quite hospitable to the island’s sole guest.

The story of this photobombing doggo garnered lots of love on social media, instantly becoming viral. It was also shared on Reddit's r/MadeMeSmile group. According to the Green Me Magazine, the dog’s name was Maru. It arrived on the island at the age of two and lived there for a few years, after which Maru passed away. Several Korean newspapers paid tribute to Maru, describing him as a sociable and affectionate dog.

Despite living on an island that is quite isolated, the pup managed to create a memorable history of his lifetime, in the form of golden marks that appear on the screen every time an avid traveler looks at the photographs of this small Korean island.

You can catch a glimpse of the adorable golden pooch here.