AFAIK the developer Dogecoin already abandoned the project years ago and it's going on its own. It's a mere joke but dogecoin still being loved by the people but if there's a rumor that Ethereum foundation is going to take over DOGE means that there will be people that are going to improve its current state. There are people that found it not so good until today so if they ever are going to take Doge, they can do what the people want and improve what they want to improve.
Abandoned or not, no one cares about that.
The most important thing is Dogecoin has been accepted and widely used around the crypto world.
It has very high liquidity, real use cases globally, as you said the coin still being loved and prefered by lots of crypto enthusiasts.
It makes sense and will help Dogecoin maintain its survival over next years.
Agreed with you merchants supports and big adoption is the key of big success and that is the reason why Doge is looking stable in current situation and growing more healthy.