RIP, Noodle the Pug, and Sorry
Noodle, who you may remember for occasionally not having bones, has passed
To the world’s immense grief, the 14-year-old pug known as Noodle died on Friday.
Last October, Noodle went viral for a series of TikTok videos that would eventually net his owner Jonathan Graziano approximately 4.5 million followers. Noodle’s decision to have “bones” or “no bones” on any given day served as a kind of groundhog’s shadow: Graziano would place Noodle upright in his dog bed, and if he crumpled, then it would be a day to lay low, but if he stood on his own four feet, then fortune would smile on all, allegedly.
That so many people apparently bought into this may appear surprising, but then again, we are living in a time when 25 percent of Americans supposedly believe in astrology. According to the New York Times, “Noodle’s videos were seen as a safe space on an otherwise contentious internet during the pandemic and a time of political divisiveness.” Seems sort of cruel to make an elderly pug perform tricks for the camera, but I don’t think animals should have jobs, especially not as cops or TikTok influencers.
Graziano made a gut-wrenching TikTok announcing his beloved Noodle’s death, encouraging all of us to carpe the diem a little bit more like Noodle and never get out of bed.
Noodle’s memory lives on in the millions of people who loved Noodle, and in his online merch store, where you can (and should!) buy an “I just don’t have the bones” yoga mat and “It’s a Bones Day” Hanukkah jigsaw puzzle.
RIP, Noodle. Your bones are free now.
