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Damian Dovarganes/AP

It may not get chilly in Pasadena, Calif., but come Jan. 1, a whole bunch of bulldogs will be polishing their snowboards for some wintry fun.

Natural Balance Pet Foods is participating in the Tournament of Roses Parade, recreating their 2009 float full of skateboarding dogs, this time with a little mountain air. "Last year, the whole country went nuts for them," Natural Balance president Joey Herrick tells PEOPLEPets.com. "So the question wasn't about what to do this year, but how to top last year."

Knowing that Tillman, their star dog from 2009, could ride like a canine Shaun White, Herrick and his team decided to recruit more pups who could master snowboarding, especially since the parade lasts almost three hours. "We need to keep sending dogs down to entertain the crowd without wearing them out," he explains.

They already had a puppy named Rose on board, as well as another talented dog named Lyle, so the challenge was to find two more pups to round out their crew.

Last week in L.A., the company held a casting call where 63 bulldogs tried their luck on the float's slopes.

"First and foremost, we were looking for non-aggressive dogs," says Herrick. "Tillman, Rose and Lyle are all great friends, so we didn't want another dog to come in who was growling all the time. And they also had to have an inclination to want to snowboard! Luckily, bulldogs seem to be the breed to do that."

After a long day of competition consisting of trips down the slope, five finalists were chosen, and on Tuesday, pups Niko and Tank won the honor of riding on the float. "Now they'll go into training — though it won't require much work since they literally slide down the mountain, come up a tram and go back down," says Herrick.

Most of the pup's owners will accompany them on the day of the big parade, riding on the float, which will be the world's longest! Measuring 112 feet (the previous record was 95 feet), the float will feature the ski run and tram, plus thousands of flowers from Bolivia. "The Guinness crew is coming to certify us on December 27, so we're very excited," says Herrick. "It's going to be a great spectacle."

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Kate Hogan