Joey Herrick was thinking one day as he was driving on the Pasadena Freeway, when suddenly he fetched a unique marketing idea for his premium dog food.

He decided to enter a float in the Rose Parade with skateboarding dogs zooming around a track. As soon as Herrick arrived at his office, he called parade organizers to reserve a spot.

Herrick, president of Pacoima-based dog food manufacturer Natural Balance Pet Foods Inc., later signed skating bulldogs Tyson and Tillman as “spokes-dogs” for the project, which has become more complicated than he had imagined.

“We built a track for both dogs here at our headquarters,” Herrick said. “They’re used to skating on parking lots and along the beach, but not on a closed track. So we had to hire a trainer to teach them.”

Will it work?

“It’s a great publicity stunt,” said Dara Turransky, partner in 7 Lucky Dogs Creative LLC, a pet-focused marketing agency in Washington state. “For people who think dogs are cute and find it neat that they can skateboard, this will definitely get their attention.”

As part of the promotion, Natural Balance has placed posters in pet stores calling for customers to post videos of their own canines in action for a “Most Amazing Dog” contest.

The winner of the contest and his or her humans will ride on the float together New Year’s Day with Natural Balance Co-Founder Dick Van Patten and his son Jimmy Van Patten.