A man brought a dog he dyed to look like Pikachu to a 126-118 Chicago Bulls win over the Utah Jazz at the United Center just days later.
“I thought it was a stuffed animal at first,” NBC Sports Chicago Bulls commentator Stacey King said as the camera panned onto the Pikachu dog during free throw shots from Jazz forward Rudy Gay. “I thought it was a little Star Wars dog. That’s what I thought at first. I thought ‘Is it Star Wars night?’
“It’s a cute little dog, though.”
The Pikachu dog saw several stops across the state of Florida before Pikachu was spotted in the United Center. The dog witnessed Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro seal a 113-110 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in FTX Arena as he hit a 20-foot jumper with 33 seconds remaining, as well as a 7-2 win by the Florida Panthers over the Montreal Canadiens at FLA Live Arena.
“It’s made NBA history because nobody’s ever seen a Pikachu dog sitting next to an NBA player before,” said Erik Torres, the dog’s owner.
The Miami-Dade County Animal Services inspected the World Famous Puppies puppy store last month while the Pikachu dog was in the store, according to a Dec. 30 report from NBC6. It is “unlawful for any person to possess, sell or otherwise transfer within the county any dyed or artificially colored rabbit or other animal,” Miami-Dade County Animal Services Assistant Director Kathleen Labrada said.
The County said Torres would be issued a citation on Dec. 28. The store has had 16 citations issued against them since they were licensed in March 2021, according to Miami-Dade Animal Services.
“No animal should be dyed, regardless of whether there’s an ordinance prohibiting that or not” Labrada said. “You don’t really have any guarantee or any assurance that the chemicals they’re putting onto your pet are safe.”
