Hello everyone!

It’s already time for the next Meetup, this will be our ninth one. The date is: SUNDAY, September 28th from 12pm-2pm in the off-leash area at David Gray Park in Burnaby – McKay Avenue at Rumble Street.  We are going to try a new location for this Meetup and may hold more events there in the future if everyone likes the park. The David Gray dog park is a great park, it’s large, has lots of grass (it won’t get as muddy as Queen’s Park), the entry gates are double gated, there’s water and a few big trees. No benches have been installed yet so if you think you’d like to sit, bring some portable chairs with you. 

Please follow the link below for the location and directions to the park – you will have to use the Zoom-In button for the first map. Parking is available on McKay Avenue, on either side of the street. There is an entrance to the dog park right on McKay Avenue.

http://www.vancouvershiba.com/directions/

We will have a donation jar and cookies for sale again at the September Meetup. The proceeds will help cover some of the costs incurred from hosting the Meetups and registering/maintaining the website. It’s been an expensive year! As the Vancouver Shiba Meetup group continues to grow (explode really) so do our expenses. In the future, we are going to look into registering the Meetup group as a non-profit society which will hopefully enable us to write off some of our expenses. If any of you members have experience with that avenue, we would really appreciate any advice you could offer.

And one last note I’d like to share, the Vancouver Shiba team has raised almost $2000 for the BC SPCA’s "Paws for a Cause" fundraiser!!  That’s awesome, considering I had originally set a goal of $1500.  We have one more week to go before the actual Walk is held and if you would like to make a last minute contribution to a very worth cause, now’s your chance. Just follow this link: 

Team Vancouver Shiba – BC SPCA’s "Paws for a Cause…Walk for the Animals" Campaign 

On behalf of animals in need across BC, thank you for your generosity!!

See you soon!

Jen & Koshi

Hello everyone!

Thank you for attending Saturday’s Meetup, we had another great turnout!  There were 28 Shibas in total with a couple of "honorary" Shibas as well.  The dog cookies were a huge hit again (thanks to both Callista and my mom) and through the sale of cookies, donations and pledges, we managed to raise $255 for the SPCA’s "Paws for a Cause" fundraiser.  That amount will be added to the money and pledges already raised by Team Vancouver Shiba – we are close to $1000 and are almost 2/3 of the way to our goal of $1500!!  Thank you to everyone on the team for their spectacular efforts.  I’m sure we’ll reach our goal in the 3 weeks we have left until the actual SPCA Walk. 

If you would like to join the Shiba team in the "Paws for a Cause" fundraiser or make a secure online donation to help us reach our goal, please follow the link below:
Team Vancouver Shiba – BC SPCA’s "Paws for a Cause…Walk for the Animals" Campaign

I am already thinking ahead to September’s Meetup and I have almost got the date picked, I’ll know in another week or so.  This one will definitely be on a Sunday.  We are going to test out a new dog park in Burnaby.  If everyone likes the park, we may hold the majority of the Meetups there.  Unfortunately, Queen’s Park (which is where all the Meetups have been held) gets really muddy when it rains. And come Fall and Winter, is a virtual mud pit until the Spring.  The park we will be trying out is David Gray in Burnaby.  It has a large, enclosed off-leash area with water, double gates and the footing is great – all grass – and should hold up much better in the rain than Queen’s Park. 

Here is a Google Maps link to the park:
David Gray Park, Burnaby BC

Eric has posted pictures from yesterday’s Meetup to Flickr: 
August 2008, Meetup Pics

Please feel free to add your own photos to the Flickr Vancouver Shiba Meetup pool:
Vancouver Shiba Meetup – Flickr Pool

       Jen & Koshi

Hello Shiba lovers!

The Meetup for this month will be held Saturday, August 23rd from 12pm-2pm at the Queen’s Park dog park in New Westminster.

For directions, maps and info about parking, please check out the website:  http://www.vancouvershiba.com/directions/

For the August Meetup, we will again have a donation jar set up and cookies (dog and human) for sale.  But this time the proceeds will go towards fundraising for the BC SPCA’s "Paws for a Cause".  There will indeed be a Shiba team for the event, "Vancouver Shiba" and we will be doing the 2.5km walk on Sunday, September 14th at Vanier Park in Kitsilano.  If you would like to join the team or make a donation online, please see the link below.  I will also have pamphlets and pledge forms at the Meetup if you prefer to donate or join the team that way.  Please give generously, it’s for a very good cause!!! 

Paws for a Cause: Team Vancouver Shiba

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, please let me know!  I’m more than happy to hear them.   Looking forward to the next Meetup,

Jen & Koshi