Noodle, the TikTok-famous pug who sometimes had no bones, has died. The 14-year-old dog’s death was announced in a teary minute-long TikTok posted by his owner Jonathan Graziano over the weekend.
“I’m so sorry to have to share this, but Noodle passed yesterday,” said Graziano. “He was at home, he was in my arms, and this is incredibly sad. It’s incredibly difficult. It’s a day that I always knew was coming but never thought would arrive, and although this is very sad I wanted to let you know and I wanted to encourage you to celebrate him while we’re navigating this sadness.”
Noodle rose to fame in 2021 due to a series of daily TikToks posted by Graziano, in which he picked up the pug and set it on its feet. If Noodle stayed standing then it was a “Bones Day,” but if the elderly dog collapsed it was deemed a “No Bones Day.”
TikTok users soon began treating Noodle’s behaviour as an oracle for the day ahead, much like checking their horoscope. While they considered Bones Days likely to be positive and productive, No Bones Days were interpreted as potentially difficult.
“He lived 14 and a half years, which is about as long as you can hope a dog can, and he made millions of people happy,” Graziano said. “What a run. Thank you for loving him, thank you for embracing us, and give your dog a cheese ball tonight. But it has to be the fake stuff.”
Graziano’s TikTok account accumulated 4.5 million followers interested in seeing whether the old pug would fall over every day.