About That Parade Float with the Surfing Dogs — and the Pool Industry Connection

If you watched the 2017 Tournament of Roses Parade, you couldn’t miss it — a float with surfing dogs. Veteran boarder Sully headlined, but the crew included another eight canines of all varieties, including a Dachshund named Coppertone. All were surrounded by a tableau comprised of 250,000 flowers.

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Lucy Pet

Lucy Pet Founder Joey Herrick commissioned what likely is the fi… Read More Lucy Pet Founder Joey Herrick commissioned what likely is the first mobile wave machine to audition pets for the Rose Parade float.

Lucy Pet

The mobile wave machine traveled from San Francisco to Manhattan… Read More The mobile wave machine traveled from San Francisco to Manhattan, with stops in between including San Diego, Houston and Lake Jackson, Texas, to find the right team of nine canines.

Lucy Pet

The final team of surfing dogs included veteran Sully, who surfe… Read More The final team of surfing dogs included veteran Sully, who surfed in the 2012 Rose Parade, and newcomer Coppertone, the dachshund.

Lucy Pet

Sometimes two boards ran at the same time.

Lucy Pet

Lucy Pet

The longest single-chassis parade float rides down Pasadena'… Read More The longest single-chassis parade float rides down Pasadena's Colorado Blvd. Taking the corners could be tight.

Besides the ooh’s and aah’s from broadcasters and viewers, the float won the Tournament of Roses’ Extraordinaire trophy and broke records as the longest and heaviest single-chassis float in history. “It’s not a float tied together with rope,” said Joey Herrick, whose foundation and company, Los Angeles-area Lucy Pet, entered the float. “It’s all steel and a single chassis.” Indeed, telecasts devoted several seconds of camera-time showing the 126-foot-long, 148,200-pound float maneuver around the corners.

To find the talent, Lucy Pet commissioned a mobile wave machine that traveled the country to audition approximately 1,000 dogs. The first mobile wave machine, according to Herrick, would travel empty, then be filled at its various destinations.

Believe it or not, there is a pool-industry component in all this: Manufacturers Pentair Aquatic Systems and Raypak donated pumps and heaters, respectively, for both vehicles and helped engineer parts of the float that involved their equipment.

Herrick does this to generate awareness for his foundation, which sends mobile spay and neuter clinics around the Los Angeles area, and for his emerging pet-products company.