Western Canada’s largest pet show, the Pet Lover Show, returns to TRADEX in Abbotsford for the 5th year, February 25th and 26th. With educational seminars from industry experts from across the province, live animal entertainment, and the latest in pet products and services, this weekend is a “can’t-miss” for pet owners living in Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.
Pet Lover Show
Dates: February 25th & 26th, 2017 Times: 10:00am to 6:00pm Saturday, 10:00am to 5:00pm Sunday Location: TRADEX (1190 Cornell St, Abbotsford) Admission: Adult (16+ years) $12; Senior (65+) or Youth (6-15) $8; Child (5 years and under) Free; Family (2 youth, 2 adults) $32. Tickets are now on sale and can be purchased in advance online at a discounted price.
Dock Dogs
For the first time ever in Vancouver, come see the world famous DockDogs at the Pet Lover Show, featuring three competitions combined to make one action-packed family- oriented act. Watch as they compete to see who can jump the highest, dive the farthest distance, and swim the fastest to get out of the water. With non-stop action, you’ll love cheering for your favourite DockDog canines as they compete at the Pet Lover Show.
Presidents Choice SuperDogs
Is Your Dog a SuperDog? This year, for the first time ever, the President’s Choice SuperDogs will be hosting their very own star search over the course of the Show. Finalists will be allowed to audition at the Pet Lover Show for a chance to perform with the President’s Choice SuperDogs this summer, at The Fair at the PNE!
From agility to dancing, jumping rope, silly pet tricks or Frisbee freestyle, come and share your dog’s special skills in a fun, friendly showcase. Submit your 15-second audition tape to the Pet Lover Show Facebook page by February 17th for a chance to go up on stage as a Finalist at the Pet Lover Show. Finalists will be notified the week before the Show.
Looking for other fun things to do together with your pet? This year’s Pet Lover Show is the most interactive ever. Bring your well-behaved pets and try out the Paws On Activities and check out specialties like massage, reiki and animal chiropractic and bring your training questions for expert advice from our certified trainers.
With continuous shows on six stages hosted by top animal specialists, the Pet Lover Show is the best place to learn from behavioural and health experts, as well as a chance to explore the latest in animal-related products.
Win Tickets
I have a 4-pack of tickets to give away to this event that’s all about pets. Here’s how you can enter to win:
Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
Click below to post an entry on Twitter
[clickToTweet tweet=”RT to enter to win tickets to the @PetLoverShow http://owl.li/fyU73090cH8″ quote=” Click to enter via Twitter” theme=”style6″]
For more information, follow the Pet Lover Show on Facebook and on Twitter. I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 5:00pm on Friday, February 17, 2017.
It has been a chilly winter for Vancouverites; great for anyone who enjoys skiing on the North Shore, but not so fun for driving around the city. But while the wintry weather can be an annoyance for us, spare a thought for some of our smallest residents – the hummingbirds.
Hummingbirds in Winter, in Vancouver
Anna’s hummingbird, male. Photo: Don Enright.
Incredible as it seems, the tiny Anna’s hummingbird (Calypte anna), which is barely 10cm long and weighs the same as a Loonie, spends the winter in Stanley Park and other spots around southern BC. So how does this little warrior survive the cold and snow?
In the summer you’ll most often see hummingbirds clustering around the flowers in the Rose Garden to feed on nectar – and many residents in the city put out sugar water feeders to help the birds out. But in the winter the hummers have come up with a different strategy.
Without flowers, nectar isn’t on the menu (unless a feeder is handy), so they turn their attention to the tiny spiders and other insects that live in the forest, and hummingbirds need to eat a huge amount to keep their metabolisms running. One bird can consume its body weight in food each day, which adds up to more than 1000 tiny insects, which explains why they spend so much time foraging.
Although it seems hard to believe given the recent weather, Anna’s hummingbirds actually seem to thrive in the Lower Mainland. Sixty years ago they didn’t range much further north than California, but they have slowly expanded north and you can now see them around Vancouver throughout the year.
Scientists aren’t exactly sure what’s behind this expansion, but one theory is that they may well have benefitted from the growth of human populations on the Pacific coast over the years. Our gardens often have plants that flower later in the year than native species, which can be an important source of food for hummingbirds, and around Stanley Park they do show a particular liking for the roses.
Our Anna’s hummingbird has to survive the cold winters, but in South America the Andean Hillstar has adapted to live in the cold year round. It lives above 3500m in the Andes where it’s so chilly the bird has to go into a kind of hibernation state each night to survive.
Rufous hummingbird, male. Photo: Mark T White.
For most small birds, though, the alternative to braving the winter is to migrate and that’s what the other hummingbird native to Stanley Park, the Rufous hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus), does. Like many snowbirds, they head south for the winter to Mexico and the Caribbean. But they don’t get the luxury of hopping on a jet. Their migration, which for hummers from Alaska is more than 3500 miles EACH WAY, is the longest in comparison to its body size of any bird, an incredible 78,470,000 body lengths. They leave us in August and September each year and return in March to breed.
Everything about hummingbirds is pocket sized: their nests are only two inches across, but don’t let that fool you; these are some of the toughest residents of the Park. We’re one of the most northerly places to have hummingbirds year round, so make sure you appreciate them.
Anna’s hummingbird nest. Photo: Micahael Schmidt.
Some tips to enjoy watching hummingbirds
Stay still. Hummingbirds hardly ever stop moving, so watching them can be tricky. It’s easier if you find a spot and let the birds come to you.
Seek out flowering plants. In summer, hummers love to feed on nectar, so patches of flowers are a great place to see them. In the Park, the Rose Garden and the flowers by the Dining Pavilion are good spots.
Look for them perching. Although they feed a lot, hummingbirds do have favorite perches. Look for them on thin exposed branches or twigs near feeding areas. You need a sharp eye, though. It’s easy to miss them.
Bring a camera. Photographing hummingbirds can be hard, but their iridescent feathers can make for some spectacular shots in the summer sunlight.
Add a Comment
by Rebecca BollwittDisclosure: Sponsored Post — This post is sponsored in partnership with the SnowSeekers #SkiNorthBC campaign this winter Please review the Policy & Disclosure section for further information.
This winter I partnered with SnowSeekers, with whom I have done a few fun assignments, to share their #SkiNorthBC stories from destinations in Northern BC.
The team visited Powder King, Terrace, Smithers, Quesnel, and Barkerville. The third story is from SnowSeekers #SkiNorthBC expedition member Dax Justin, reporting from the Cariboo Regional District, sharing insights and delights from Troll Ski Resort:
#SkiNorthBC Troll Ski Resort
“When I heard I was going to ski a mountain resort mysteriously named “‘Troll,” I knew this place was somehow different from the other ski hills. It became my mission to find out what made it so unique.
As the story goes, a man named Lars Fossberg and his wife Astrid built this place from the ground up in 1972. It’s no wonder Troll has pretty deep roots in the Quesnel region. To this day, the resort is still run by the family. Lars’ daughter Hildur and her husband Lars Sinclair, operate the hill that has 527 metres (1,729 feet) of vertical and reportedly, the world’s second largest T-bar. It’s always so cool to find out facts like this!”
Photo by @DaxJustin
Photo by @DaxJustin
The first person that Dax ran into at Troll was Hildur Sinclair. “What we do is create joy for people…create a space for them to come and experience joy,” Hildur tells me. “Troll is a special place in a lot of people’s hearts and it’s where they have a lot of fun, laugh and play. I think that’s super important nowadays – to be able to get out and just experience nature and fall in the snow and you’re not plugged into anything. That’s what we do here.”
Photo by @DaxJustin
Dax writes: “Hildur’s love of her staff is so easy to see. In fact, they aren’t staff, they’re more like family. Apart from running the mountain operations with her husband Len, she embraces anyone who is part of her team at the mountain. She’ll cook for them (and I’m talking about huge and amazing meals) because it gives her happiness, knowing everyone is well fed and happy. Everyone seems to bond around the community dinner table here. The sense of community within the lodge at Troll is like nothing I’ve ever seen before – and that includes the heart-warming fact that nobody is busy looking at their phones.”
For more on the entire region, home to Troll Ski Resort and the historic town of Barkerville, check out the website for the Cariboo Regional District.
#SkiNorthBC and explore more! For travellers, SnowSeekers has partnered with National Car rental to secure you a SnowSeekers preferred rate. Make a reservation online, or with an agent and in the Contract field enter XVC4SNO for a savings that could cover your ski pass cost every day.
It’s Family Day Long Weekend in BC, and while many of the kids have been out of school thanks to snow day closures, the holiday on Monday will see plenty of activities for everyone at local recreation centres, attractions, rinks, and more. Check out the full list of things to do in Vancouver the weekend below, and over 40 Family Day Events are listed here.
Things to do in Vancouver This Weekend
Events that run for longer than three days in a row are highlighted in green.
In January, TransLink launched the first transit improvements set out in Phase One of the Ten Year Vision.
That means more transit and less congestion on the roads, increased SkyTrain frequency, more SeaBus, bus and HandyDART trips – making space for 185,000 more people per week to take transit!
What’s New
SkyTrain
On weekdays – peak service will end 15 minutes later in the morning and last one hour longer in the afternoon and evening rush.
On weekends – trains will increase to match weekday off-peak frequency meaning trains will run every 3 to 6 minutes.
Canada Line
More frequent service during weekday peak hours.
11 per cent increase in passenger capacity during the busiest periods – that means an extra 3,700 passengers in each direction every weekday.
Bus and HandyDART
10 per cent increase in bus service.
15 per cent increase for HandyDART meaning 85,000 more available trips annually.
SeaBus
Doubling SeaBus Service on Sundays and holidays to sailings every 15 minutes from 10:00am to 7:00pm.
Public consultations
Open houses for both the Surrey Rapid Transit Project and the Millennium Line Broadway Extension.
What’s Next
In the coming weeks and months, more improvements of Phase One will be rolled out, including:
New or expanded transit services for neighbourhoods that currently have few – or no – transit options today;
Safer walking and cycling routes; and
Improvements to the Major Road Network.
And that’s just Phase One!
In Phase Two, TransLink will ask for more public input later this year for the next phase of the 10 Year Vision.
Highlights of Phase Two
Replacement of the Pattullo Bridge
Surrey light rail
Broadway subway
More rail cars and station upgrades on the existing SkyTrain system
Additional expansion of bus service across the region
Additional expansion of HandyDART service
Continued improvements to major roads, cycling, walking paths, and transit access points
This winter I partnered with 
