An influencer pup has passed away. Noodle, the pug who went viral for his “bones or no bones?” predictions on TikTok, died at age 14 last Friday.
An Emotional Farewell
Noodle’s dog dad, Jonathan Graziano, posted the sad news on the video-sharing platform as well as on Instagram.
“I’m so sorry to have to share this, but Noodle passed yesterday,” Graziano said. “He was at home, he was in my arms. This is incredibly sad. It’s incredibly difficult. It’s a day that I always knew was coming but never thought would arrive.”
He went on to say, “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.”
“He lived 14 and a half years which is about as long as you can hope a dog can,” he continued. “And he made millions of people happy. What a run.”
Noodle the Pug’s Rise to Fame
Graziano adopted Noodle when the pug was 7 years old. The duo came into the social media spotlight mid-pandemic in 2021. Their videos consisted of Graziano holding up the pup in his dog bed. If Noodle stood up, it was a “bones” day. If he fell over, it was a “no bones” day.
“A bones day is a day where you just have to go after your ambition or a task you were outing off,” Graziano said in an appearance on Today in 2021. “A no bones day is a day when you just need permission to wear soft clothes, self-care, take a bath.”
This simple concept garnered the dog and his dad 4.5 million followers on TikTok, with an additional 271K on Instagram.
In the death announcement video, Graziano expressed gratitude toward the duo’s social media fan base for “embracing” and loving them. He finished his teary-eyed tribute with a reference to Noddle’s “cheese ball full of meds.”
“Give your dog a cheese ball tonight,” he said, “but it has to be the fake stuff.”
Rest in peace, Noodle. May your cheese balls be plentiful in heaven.
