There is still a lot to see in this case, as the information is not all open yet, Dogs did become popular because Durov himself took part in this project, but we just need to wait more patiently it seems.
I'm hearing a lot that Durov himself is part of project, but I see nothing concrete about it. In Dogs official telegram it's mentioned that the project is inspired from Durov's drawing [1] and that's all about it.
[1]
https://t.me/dogs_community/7