The Canadian Christmas Pet Expo in Toronto – if you have pets, and haven’t been here yet, you must be in the minority.

Twice a year, two units at the International Conventional Centre near the Toronto airport fills with pet-lovers, a lot of dogs and vendors, vendors, vendors selling everything you can think of for pets big and small, furry, feathered and scaled.

Dog and Cat Show

The breeder booths have largely been replaced by the CPE Classic dog show parading best examples of breeds – fitting considering The National Dog Show in Orlando, Florida is on this weekend and televised across North America (spoiler alert: It’s a whippet win!).

The Canadian Cat Association hosted the feline equivalent event across the show floor, so you can ooh and aah over pure bred cat beauties too.

Performances

UltiMutts performing dogs set up an arena; disc dogs demonstrate skills and pet pups at the show can blow off steam at the lure course (long line-up, though).

Speaking of line-ups, for the first time there isn’t one to get into the show (check out previous years) so organizers solved that issue. Buy tickets online and print a copy of your waiver if you’re bringing your dog with you.

Pet Photos

Photos with Santa ($20 each) is a highlight of this show – and photos might be the theme of the event.

Social media favourites like Iggy Joey and Dozer the pig poise for photos. New to the show is a ‘photo area’ – four simple staged sets where people snap their own pet portraits or selfies.

Talent Hounds has a set of its own taking professional photos for future television shows and websites. Also, Talent Hounds Kids Club provides the two-legged little ones a chance to get creative and paint their own guinea pig pet rock.

The Canadian Christmas Pet Expo runs November 24 and 25, 2018 at the International Centre, Mississauga, (near the Toronto Pearson Airport), Ontario, Canada.