Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
ATLANTA — Noodle, the geriatric pug who captured hearts across the internet for his "bones or no bones" ritual, has died at age 14, his owner says.
Jonathan Graziano, Noodle's owner, announced that his beloved dog died on Friday, in a tearful update posted to his TikTok and Instagram.
"This is incredibly sad, it's incredibly difficult," Graziano said in the video. "It's a day that I always knew was coming but never thought would arrive.
"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 died at home in his owner's arms, Graziano said.
"He made millions of people happy," he said. "Thank you for loving him. Thank you for embracing us."
Graziano adopted Noodle when the dog was seven years old. The duo shot to social media fame in 2021, after Graziano began posting videos of the pug each morning to TikTok.
In each video, Graziano would sit Noodle upright to see if the dog could stand on his own. If he stood up by himself, it was a "bones day" — which quickly became internet code for a day to get out of bed and make the most of your day.
On the other hand, if the pug flopped back over, it was a "no bones day" — aka a day for self-care and relaxation. Over 4 million followers tuned in to see whether Noodle had bones for the day.
"I had absolutely no idea this would become the barometer in which the nation foretold how their day was going to go," Graziano previously told CNN.
