A pug is taking the internet by storm by answering one simple question: is it a bones day, or a no bones day?
Noodle is a 13-year-old pug living in New York City with his human Jonathan Graziano. Graziano adopted the pug when Noodle was 7 years old and it was really early on when he noticed that sometimes Noodle would have “no bones.”
“Noodle has done this since the first week. I came to realize that this is a little thing that he does. All dogs have their things and quirks, Noodle just likes to be comfortable and he’s very stubborn,” said Graziano. “I was preparing to have a dog when I adopted him, I figured I had to wake up early to walk him. I would walk him at 8 p.m. and then at 11 a.m. the next day he would still be asleep. I would go and nudge him a bit and he would just flop.”
The concept is simple: Noodle tells us if it’s a bones day or a no bones day when Graziano lifts the little pug from his bed and lets go. If Noodle stands, we have a bones day — if Noodle flops back down into his bed, we have a no bones day.
A bones day means that you should take the world by storm, take those risks and treat yourself to something you may not do every day. A no bones day isn’t a bad day — on the contrary, a no bones day allows you to take it easy and practice self care the way you need to, even if that means flopping on plans and staying in for the evening.
Originally, Graziano would post Noodle’s bouts of no bones on Instagram, which were often just showing Noodle’s response to seeing if he was ready for a walk. Graziano eventually started highlighting Noodle on his TikTok page (@jongraz), which gained a lot of attention seemingly overnight, with the videos racking up millions of views apiece.
As a social media marketer himself, Graziano credits the internet at large for initially making the bones/no bones day a predictor of how one’s day will go.
“I never did that, the prediction stuff all came from the internet. That’s why I think it’s gotten as big as it has, I put out the canvas and everybody started painting,” said Graziano. “From years ago I was posting this on Instagram, not in the same format with the narration. I started creating content on TikTok and I have an old pug on the internet, it’s something people want to see. One day I thought, I should film this and post it. I posted it with hashtags like #olddog, #adoptdontshop, #seniorpug, thinking pug people and people with old dogs would relate. When others started jumping in and saying ‘Oh it’s a bones day, I want to do this thing!’ or ‘This is more accurate than my horoscope,’ I figured I should lean into this.”
Noodle has since taken the media by storm, with several articles chronicling his recent rise to fame on TikTok, and even making an appearance (and a live bones or no bones reading) on the ‘Today Show.’ Several TikTok accounts have made songs about Noodle and skits surrounding bones and no bones days.
Following the recent TikTok success and feedback from his viewers, Graziano has recently launched a Noodle-themed store, the Noodle No Bones Boutique, where some of the proceeds will go to support an animal shelter.
“I have a few animal shelters, I need to decide if I’m going to do national or local shelters,” said Graziano. “Depending on the success I may do one big donation to one shelter or several smaller donations to many shelters. If I can pay it forward somehow and make a platform for dog adoption, it’s a privilege.”
You can follow Noodle on Instagram at @showmenoodz and you can follow Graziano on TikTok and Instagram @jongraz. The Noodle No Bones Boutique can be found at noodleofficial.threadless.com.
