After the success of Unleashing Mr. Darcy during last year’s Winterfest event, it’s no surprise that Hallmark is back with not one, but two filmed-in-BC dog centric movies this year: Walking the Dog and Love at First Bark.
RELATED: Unleashing Mr. Darcy From Hallmark’s Winterfest 2016
Walking the Dog
During late 2016, Hallmark’s Walking the Dog took over the picturesque coastal region of Saanich on Vancouver Island. Jennifer Finnigan (Tyrant, Better With You) and Sam Page (Switched at Birth, All Things Valentine) star as Kristie Simmons and Keith Ames respectively. The two are competing attorneys in a case where Kristie is fighting to improve the public transit in her small hometown by adding a bike lane.
Fate brings the unlikely pair together outside of the courtroom as well after their dogs meet and fall in love. Out of respect for the cute puppy-love relationship, Kristie and Keith have to find a way to put their differences aside. They both start to realize that they not only met their match in the courtroom, but in their love lives as well.
According to timescolonist.com, some of the filming locations used for the movie included Sidney’s Municipal Hall, Nourish Kitchen & Café in James Bay and a private residence in the Saanich Peninsula.
Here’s a photo shared by Jennifer from the set of Walking the Dog on Vancouver Island:
Walking the Dog premieres Saturday, February 4th at 9pm as part of the Countdown to Valentine’s Day on the Hallmark Channel in the US.
Love at First Bark
Former One Tree Hill star Jana Kramer is currently in the Vancouver area filming Love at First Bark. Jana plays Julia Evans; a single woman with a new German Sheppard named Brad who turns out to be just as out of control as her personal life.
After Brad destroys nearly everything in Julia’s apartment, she’s left with no choice but to seek professional help. A dog trainer named Owner steps in to teach Brad some discipline, but quickly sees that Julia needs to make some changes of her own. As things with Brad start to settle down, Julia discovers she might have feelings for Owen.
Jana shared a cute behind the scenes pic of her snuggling up to her canine co-star Brad as production ramped up last week.
Here’s another shot Jana shared while on set in Maple Ridge with iZombie‘s Leanne Lapp and Anna Van Hooft (Cedar Cove):
Loving my costar girls @nanahooft & @leannelapp @hallmarkchannel #set #vancouver pic.twitter.com/l8m7IgKCF4
— Jana Kramer (@kramergirl) January 26, 2017
According to the film’s IMDb page, Anna will be playing Sherry, Kevin McGarry (Heartland, Signed Sealed Delivered: From Paris with Love) will be playing Owen while Natasha Burnett (UnREAL) and Jaime M. Callica (Wayward Pines, The Romeo Section) will play Cindy and Mike Howard respectively. No word yet who Leanne will be portraying.
Love at First Bark will continue filming in Vancouver and British Columbia until February 1st and will premiere on April 1st at 9pm as part of Hallmark’s Spring Fling series the US.
Check out a preview of the movie here:
Filming locations that can be seen in the trailer include:
- White Rock Pier and beachfront
- Memorial Peace Park in Maple Ridge
- Bosley’s on Dewdney Trunk Rd in Maple Ridge
RELATED: Hallmark Movies and TV Filmed in British Columbia
Update: A third dog-themed Hallmark movie, Like Cats and Dogs, has also started filming in British Columbia. Check out more about that movie here: Hallmark’s Like Cats and Dogs Starts Filming
Hopefully either W Network or Netflix will pick up Walking the Dog and Love at First Bark so they can be seen here in Canada too.
