Traverse City was filmed in British Columbia: The filming locations of A Dog’s Perfect Christmas
A Dog’s Perfect Christmas
The story is set in Traverse City, Michigan – W. Bruce Cameron’s own stomping ground, the town on the shores of Grand Traverse Bay where the novel is rooted. The film was shot in Vancouver, Burnaby and Penticton, British Columbia. But Cameron was not about to let Traverse City disappear entirely from the screen.
In a radio interview with WTCM’s Ron Jolly in Traverse City, Cameron explained that the production team is collecting real local footage to blend into the movie – shots of downtown in rain and snow, drone passes over the bay and pictures of cosy holiday storefronts. He even gave out an email address for locals to send their own video clips. Traverse City is in the film. It just did not host the cameras.
A Dog’s Perfect Christmas is Netflix’s first Christmas film of the 2026 season, premiering on November 4, 2026. Directed by Cathryn Michon, co-written with her husband W. Bruce Cameron – the bestselling author behind A Dog’s Purpose, A Dog’s Journey and A Dog’s Way Home. Produced under the working title Winstead and Ruby by Fezziwig Studios for Netflix.
The story is told from the perspective of Winstead – a wise senior basset hound voiced by Thomas Haden Church – who narrates the chaos that ensues when the Goss family mother is put into an induced coma during the holiday season. The family must come together with the help of an adopted corgi puppy named Ruby. Dennis Quaid, Milo Ventimiglia, Mary Steenburgen, Jennifer Tilly, Brooke Lena Johnson, Kathleen Rose Perkins and Ethan Loomis complete the cast.
Principal photography ran from October 28 to December 13, 2025, based around Vancouver and Burnaby. Vancouver’s established Christmas movie infrastructure – its suburban residential streets, its holiday-dressed shopping areas and its British Columbian winter light – gave the production the visual world of a midwestern American family Christmas. Milo Ventimiglia returns to Vancouver for his second dog’s-POV film in the city, having previously shot The Art of Racing in the Rain there.
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The production team filmed four hours east of Vancouver. From December 9 to 11, 2025, the crew filmed at Gyro Park in Penticton – in BC’s Okanagan Valley – for a skating rink and hockey scene. Dennis Quaid, Milo Ventimiglia and Brooke Lena Johnson were all on set. A local casting call sought hockey players aged 18 to 28 to play high school hockey players for the sequence.
The City of Penticton confirmed that filming on December 10 would use the outdoor rink, Link Road and the holiday light tunnel along Lakeshore Drive – with the park remaining open to the public but the tunnel and light displays potentially closed after 3pm.
A Dog’s Perfect Christmas premieres on Netflix on November 4, 2026.
SOURCE
City of Penticton // WTCM Ron Jolly interview // Netflix
CREDITS
© Netflix // Photo Diyah Pera
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