My Heart is Heavy Today: Dick Van Patten June 23, 2015

Dick Van Patten with his wife Patty&  son Jimmy, in Palm Springs (photo: Palm Springs Life)

My heart is heavy today over the loss of my friend Dick Van Patten. He was kind, talented, funny, generous and truly an animal lover. I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have known Dickie these years. I knew him on a personal and professional level. Most people remember him for Eight is Enough, however, he had an incredible career as an actor. He started as a child actor on stage, and later went on to one of the early TV programs "I Remember Mama" in 1949. During his career, Dickie appeared in 600 radio shows, 30 Broadway shows, 26 feature films, eight television series and countless guest appearances in TV series and even a reality TV series. I had the opportunity to work closely with Dick during my years at Natural Balance, during multiple National Guide Dog Month campaigns and also during the filming of the TV series Who Let The Dogs Out. I first got to know him back when I worked at Petco, and our friendship developed over the years. But I also knew Dickie on a personal level. His passions were many...first, his family...and then from tennis to poker to race horses to animals--and especially cats. He was always fascinated by cats.

with Dick Van Patten in Palm Springs, 2009

He was also a true animal advocate, and put his time and money into programs to help animals in need. Dick Van Patten literally helped thousands of animal organizations nationwide and founded National Guide Dog Month to help raise awareness and money for non-profit guide dog schools. Dick was a family fan, a loving husband and a dear friend. 

Dick had a great sense of humor...his jokes were always hugely funny and he had great comedic timing. Years ago, back when I worked for Petco, Dick was known for telling some truly hilarious, and now legendary jokes at the Petco Trade Show and Managers Meeting. Attendees of the annual event would literally wait with great anticipation for him to appear on stage to hear his big joke. Some years his jokes had an edgy double entendre, yet still respectable, leaving the audience rolling on the floor.

Dick loved my dog Sheldon!

Many people already know that Dick Van Patten was always interested in helping animal causes. He was an ardent supporter of Guide Dog programs, and in particular he had a soft spot for the Guide Dogs of the Desert in Palm Springs, CA. During a visit to the Guide Dogs of the Desert he went under blindfold and was led by a guide dog to experience what it was like to put full trust in an animal. This experience influenced him and was at the heart of his desire to help guide dog programs nationwide. His philanthropy knew no limits--from hosting celebrity tennis tournaments to supporting organizations like Actors and Others for Animals, The Petco Foundation, and literally thousands of shelters nationwide, he found a way to help as many animals in need as possible. His efforts also served as inspiration to similar programs in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia. He made a difference to animals in the world.

Dick's Star in Palm Springs

I'll always remember the time Dick received his Golden Palm honor on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars. The night before, we held a private dinner party in Dick's honor at Melvyn's Ingleside Inn restaurant, which was a truly memorable evening. The next day, Saturday January 12, 2008 was the star unveiling and dedication ceremony. 

Dickie and his family assembled for the star dedication, and other celebrities including Lily Tomlin, Tom Bosley, Ruta Lee, Debbie Gibson, Jerry Vale attended that day. Following the star dedication, we hosted a private luncheon afterward at Spencer's Restaurant. I shall never forget what a nice weekend that was, and how happy Dick was to receive this honor from the Palm Springs community.

And so, as is the case in this life, all good things must come to an end. He was one of the nicest guys in Hollywood, and a man I called friend. He encouraged me when I needed confidence, and he listened when I needed a sounding board to make personal and professional decisions. Above all, he always made me feel comfortable and relaxed.

I cannot sufficiently express the depth of my admiration, respect and love for Dickie Van Patten or what he meant to me. I cried when the word came that Dick had passed. I cried because he always made me feel like a son, and welcomed me into his life.

Thank you, Dick Van Patten for many fond memories and many great laughs. 

Your pal, Rick.

Guide Dog Heroes Brunch Honoring Betty White

Today I attended the 6th annual Heroes Brunch, an event benefiting the Guide Dogs of the Desert. The Guide Dogs of the Desert are one of my favorite non-profit organizations in Palm Springs. I am proud to have had the opportunity to work with them for over five years already. This year's honoree was Betty White. No doubt you already know that this amazing lady has won seven Emmy Awards during her 60+ year career in Hollywood. You probably are already aware she is known as an animal advocate, having helped numerous shelters and animal related causes throughout her life. In addition to all this, she has also been a huge supporter of non-profit guide dog programs for many years. I've also been involved with Guide Dog fundraisers for several years and had the opportunity to see Betty White's passion for these incredible dogs. Betty White's current dog 'Pontiac' is a retired guide dog. She told me that "old dogs have a special place in my heart' which is why she adopted Pontiac.

Dick Van Patten, Betty White and his wife Pat Van Patten

Actor and animal lover Dick Van Patten attended the Heroes Brunch to day, in support of his friend Betty White. His pet food company, Natural Balance Pet Foods (for whom I work) has long been a supporter of guide dog schools nationwide. It was great to see Betty White and Dick Van Patten together, sharing a few laughs, and helping raise awareness about the important work guide dogs do to help visually impaired people.

Dick Van Patten, Betty White & Tom Sullivan

Dick told me he and his wife were so happy to be with their friend Betty as she was honored for her work to help the Guide Dogs of the Desert of Palm Springs. Seated next to Betty in this photo is Tom Sullivan. She and Tom are long time friends and also co-authors of The Leading Lady, a true story about Mr Sullivan's first guide dog Dinah, and the impact she had on both of their lives (Betty ended up adopting Dinah when she retired from her work as a guide dog). It was a great event, I'm so proud of what Natural Balance does to help this wonderful organization here in our beautiful desert.

Dogs Surf the World's Longest & Heaviest Parade Float with Natural Balance

photo credit: Betsy Martin

If you missed seeing the Natural Balance Pet Foods Rose Parade Float during the Rose Parade, I took a brief video of our float. The float was certified by Guinness World Records as the World's Longest and Heaviest. The float measures 116 feet from end-to-end, and will weigh more than 100,000 pounds thanks to 6600 gallons of water.

It took a Ford 6.8-liter three-valve V-10 engine, normally used in its F-Series Super Duty trucks to power such a massive float. Thanks to the folks at Ford Motor Company for getting the float going! 

Now here is the video I took with my iPhone. If you watch closely you can see Rose surf.

Here is a link to the same video on YouTube.

I thought I'd also share a bunch of awesome photos of our float. Most of these photos below were provided to me by Betsy Martin, who works with me at Natural Balance. 

We were very excited to be awarded the 'Extraordinaire Trophy' for our float.

 

photo: Betsy Martin, Natural Balance

Above: here are Dick Van Patten, Jimmy Van Patten and NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, at the front of our float! 

Greg Biffle photo: Betsy Martin Natural Balance

Here's a great photo with famed NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, who rode on our float, along with Tillman! He is a really great guy who loves animals too. The Greg Biffle Foundation raises awareness for animal advocacy, so check it out.

photo: Betsy Martin, Natural Balance

Check out Tillman surfing! Tillman is certified by Guinness Records as the fastest skateboarding bulldog in the World. He loves to surf too! Check out these two photos. He is really having a blast here. He surfs with his dad at local beaches near LA all the time, so he is a real pro, as you can see from these pics.

photo: Betsy Martin, Natural Balance

photo: Betsy Martin, Natural Balance

photo: Betsy Martin Natural Balance

Here is Stanley an amazing Chesapeak Bay Retriever and friend of Natural Balance. He is one of the So Cal Surf Dogs who surf with their dogs. They promote safe dog surfing and having fun surfing for the mental and physical health for both you and your dog. Pretty cool group, huh?

Here at left is Norman, better known as "Scooter Dog" He is also a friend of Tillman and Natural Balance, read more here.

photo: Betsy Martin, Natural Balance

Here is Newman, an English Bulldog and one of the winners of the open casting call we had at Natural Balance for dogs to surf on our float. Newman is surfing backwards in this photo, pretty amazing trick!

Stealth Bomber photo: Rick Rockhil

Photo: Rick Rockhill

At the start of the Rose Parade, a US Stealth Bomber completed its fly-by, which is always a crowd pleaser. It is one amazing piece of military technology. 

A Skywriting airplane for Geico insurance wrote 'Happy New Year' over the parade route, which was fun. The 2012 Rose Parade was really awesome. I'm proud of the Natural Balance Pet Foods float, I think we really stole the show. I hope you enjoyed these photos.

Finishing Touches on Natural Balance Rose Parade Float

photo credit: Judy T. Natural Balance Pet Foods

Well, we're less than 24 hours before the 123rd Rose Parade kicks off in Pasadena, California. Our team have been busy making final preparations to our float to ensure every detail was perfect. This morning Dick Van Patten and Jimmy Van Patten personally inspected the float. A few of the flowers and plants needed minor adjustments and tweaks. The Van Pattens take great pride in the Natural Balance Pet Foods float. After all, not only is it the World's Longest and Heaviest Parade Float, but we'd like to think it is the most beautiful too!
 
On Monday, January 2nd, tune in to see the Natural Balance Pet Foods Rose Parade float on ABC, or The Hallmark Channel, starting at 8:00 AM (Pacific). You're going to love seeing our family dogs surfing on the float. They have been having so much fun all day playing on the float. (Incidentally, the water is heated, so it will be comfortable for the dogs!).

If you like our float, tell us, on Twitter @NaturalBalance or on our Facebook page. I'll be Tweeting LIVE from the Parade, follow me @RickRockhill, or look for tweets with the hashtag #RosePets to see all the commentary!

Behind The Scenes at the Natural Balance Rose Parade Float

Last night I attended a reception held at Fiesta Parade Floats in Irwindale, California. It was somewhat of an open house to view the Rose Parade Floats being decorated at their facility. My employer, Natural Balance Pet Foods has an incredible float in the Rose Parade, so I took all of these photos to give you a behind the scenes, advance sneak peek at what it looks like! Incidentally, if you want to learn more about the Rose Parade and our float, listen to my radio show on BlogTalkRadio, just click here.

Our company co-founder Dick Van Patten and I inspected the float, carefully checking the details- millions of seeds, flowers, gains, nuts, vegetables that are used to create the designs. We were both amazed and really proud of our float!

Saffron is used to decorate the crab legs...isn't it just beautiful? I spoke with the person who decorated the crab, and she was so proud that she beamed as she described it to me.

These photos really give you an idea of the size and scale of our float...as well as the depth of colors and beauty. The coral was much taller than me...so it must have stood 7 or 8 feet high I would guess.

Me "clowning around" among the clown fish that are "swimming" along the sides of our incredible Rose Parade Float! The white parts of the fish were decorated with grains of white rice.

I love Anthurium flowers, they remind me of being in Hawaii!

I like this photo a lot- the two big pink swags were covered in fresh roses and smelled divine. Actually it was like paradise just being next to the float, the flowers are all so fragrant. I've never seen anything so beautiful in all my life.
This next photo may be tough to figure out until you see the float in action, but it is the "car" that will bring the dogs back up to the top to have another run at surfing. It will move along a track, with the dogs and their surfboards!

The license plate on the model "Woodie" car on our float pretty much says it all: DOGS RULE! This car is at the very back, top section, behind where the waves will flow. It is really awesome to see it up so close.

This is an odd angle, but I took this photo to give you the perspective of the length of the float..it really is enormous. If you look closely you can see Dick Van Patten shaking hands with visitors. He was so proud of the float!

Another side view of the float, this one has different sizes of Angel fish..click on the photo to see the incredible details on the fish stripes. Remember there are no artificial colors or materials used.

Standing among the zillions of fresh roses, each in their own individual vial of water so they stay fresh until parade day. It smelled so wonderfully fragrant it made me smile. I have always liked roses anyway...maybe someday I'll plant a rose garden. Well that just about wraps up today's post. I hope these photos give you an idea of what goes into making these Rose Parade floats. You can watch the live cam of our float by clicking here. Don't forget to watch the parade Monday January 2nd, it starts at 8:00 AM (pacific). 

The Hallmark Channel will run a TV special about the making of The World's Longest and Heaviest Float, an hour before the parade starts, so check that out too! 

One addition- I took this photo from the live cam of our float. This is Tillman doing a practice surf this morning. The side walls will be clear on parade day so viewers will be able to see the dogs more easily. Cool huh?

"CSI: Miami" Stars Eva LaRue and Omar Miller Join Natural Balance Pet Foods®, PETCO Stores for National Guide Dog Month in September

The following Press Release was issued today to officially announce details about National Guide Dog Month:

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Eva LaRue and Omar Miller, stars of TV's "CSI: Miami" are teaming with Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Pet Foods, PETCO (TM) and independent pet stores to celebrate National Guide Dog Month in September and raise money and awareness for guide dog organizations across the country.

"We want people to realize that this is more than just a fundraiser for a good cause," said Miller. "This is really about empowering the visually impaired with the life-changing gift of a guide dog. Guide dogs and training are provided at no cost to qualified applicants who are blind or visually impaired. With 10 million visually impaired people in the U.S., the demand for guide dogs continues to grow."

"Every seven minutes someone in America becomes blind or visually impaired," said LaRue. "Guide dogs are heroes, providing safe mobility, loving companionship and restoring confidence to their handlers."

Throughout September, pet parents can visit any of PETCO's more than 1,100 locations nationwide, as well as select Independent Retailers of Natural Balance to help support National Guide Dog Month. PETCO shoppers can make donations at the register or online at www.petco.com/guidedogs . 

All proceeds from these National Guide Dog Month activities will be donated to participating guide dog training facilities nationwide, a list of which is available at http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/programs/NatGDMonth2011.html

SOURCE Natural Balance Pet Foods, Inc.

My View of The 122nd Annual Rose Parade

Finally, dawn broke and the parade route started to light up

Once again I had the privilege of attending the Tournament of Roses Parade in beautiful Pasadena, California. This was the 122nd Annual Rose Parade, which is a really spectacular parade that showcases life in Southern California. My employer, Natural Balance Pet Foods had a float in the parade- our third year in a row in fact. Last year we made history with the World's Longest Parade Float. This year we broke another record with the World's Heaviest Float, but more on that later. Some people who attend the Rose Parade camp out along the route as much as 24 hours in advance to secure a prime spot. I was fortunate to have seats in the viewing stands from my company. I was also entertaining/hosting a number of customers with whom my company does business.

Parade organizers request attendees to be in their seats by 6:30 AM, mainly because of the sheer volume of people who turn up. We arrived by 6:00 AM- it was quite cold, 39 degrees Fahrenheit (4 Celsius) so it was rather chilly! We sat in the viewing stands, waiting for sunrise and observing the massive crowds settle into position along the route. I was seated at 90 S Orange Grove, which is the very beginning of the parade, just before it turn onto Colorado Boulevard.

I love the Rose Parade- the beautiful flowers that cover all the floats are a remarkable sight to see. I also love seeing marching bands and hearing their music too. When our float finally came into view, it was truly exciting. You see, working at Natural Balance is not just a regular job. We have FUN. We love animals and find ways to express that through our brand. Our Rose Parade float is a great example of that. Our float features the world famous Tillman and gang- who can all skateboard, snow board, and surf. This year they were skim boarding, while in another part of the float a group of Dock Diving Dogs were jumping into a heated pool and having a blast.

As the float approached, this is the front view!

Our co-founder actor Dick Van Patten once again rode on the float with his son Jimmy Van Patten. Together they cheered on Tillman, Rose, Lyle and Sully as parade viewers watched in amusement. Being a family company, the Van Pattens are involved and love being with the dogs on the float. The dock diving dogs wore body suits provided by Body Glove, who are experts in water sports gear. It was so much fun to see our float and to hear the audience's genuine appreciation and affection for these dogs.

This photo is from the LA Times of our Dock Diving Pool

Be sure to click on this photo below to biggify it!

Side view of our float. In the center is the massive pool, to the right is the skim boarding area!

Rear view of the Natural Balance float

The official certificate!

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As I mentioned earlier, our float was certified by the Guinness World Records as the Heaviest parade float in history. Weighing in at 84,300 pounds, all the water in the heated pool (not to mention the 14 dogs) made for a record-breaking float! It was made by Fiesta Parade Floats, the best float makers in the business!


If you were not able to see the Rose Parade, the clips below had coverage of the Natural Balance float. First ABC:

And here is the clip from KTLA- our float is right around the 4:00 minute mark:
 
And here are a few other floats I saw that caught my eye for some reason or other:

Look closely on top of the coach- POODLES!

This guy was doing some fancy rope tricks on his horse!

My favorite: The Ronald Reagan Foundation Float!

Kaiser Permanente (health insurance) had a neat float

Namco, the makers of Pac Man video game!

Cunard Cruise Line- this one is for Bee!

Rose Bowl team University of Wisconsin

Rose Bowl team TCU, Texas Christian University

US Bank, I just liked this one for some reason.

Warner Bros Float- you can see Sponge Bob!

Here are some of the goodies from this year's Rose Parade. My company made commemorative bags, pins, hats, mugs and t-shirts for our guests (see photos left). We also made blankets but I gave mine to someone in the stands. 

The whole experience was a lot of fun, and I was so proud of my company's float. It felt great to see first hand how well the parade viewers responded with cheers of support and applause when the Natural Balance float glided by. Those dogs sure are a hit. I can't imagine how we will top this next year, but I'm sure we will find a way!

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