Hello everyone,

The next Meetup will be SUNDAY, August 29th from 12pm – 2pm in the off-leash area at David Gray Park in Burnaby – McKay Avenue and Rumble Street.  Please follow the link below for the location and maps of the park.  Click on the Shiba icon on the first map, and it will give you directions to the park.  Parking is available on McKay Avenue, on either side of the street.  There is an entrance to the dog park right on McKay Avenue. Directions

There will be dog treats for sale at the Meetup and another raffle for a gift basket with 100% of the proceeds of both to be donated to the the BC SPCA's "Paws for a Cause" fundraiser. It's not too late to Join the Vancouver Shiba Team or Make a Donation

A really great friend of mine who is involved with the Shiba rescue group NW Shibas4Life has kindly donated a print for silent auction with 100% of the proceeds to be donated to Paws for a Cause.  If you are interested in making a bid on this lovely print, please send a message to info@vancouvershiba.com with "silent auction" in the subject line and the amount you would like to bid. We will update www.vancouvershiba.com every time there is an offer of a higher bid. 

The closing date for the silent auction will be September 1, 2010 at 7pm. 

The unframed print is 20" x 20" on a white 3" border. The print is titled "Sunday Drive" and the two Shibas in the front seats are the artist's own rescued Shibas – Fox & Hana. The little passenger in the back seat is LoveBug, a sweet little girl that was rescued by NW Shibas4Life from a life of misery in a puppy mill. She has since passed away but will always be remembered by the many people who knew and loved her.

Please note: the DancingShibaPhotograpy watermark is not present on the actual print

Thank you so much to Roberta Parsons for donating this beautiful print! She is a photographer of great skill and many years of experience. She has recently started her own business of pet portraits. To see some of her work check out her website: http://www.dancingshibaphotography.com/ 

See you at the August Meetup!

Jen, Koshi & Barkley

Hello everyone,

For the third year running, the Vancouver Shiba Inu Meetup Society will have a team entered for the BC SPCA's "Paws for a Cause" fundraiser.   

I have registered us as team "Vancouver Shiba" for the walk in Vancouver. There will be no Burnaby area walk this year as the city has joined with Vancouver, West Van & the North Shore for one combined location. The walk will be held Sunday, September 12th at Stanley Park.

If you are interested in joining the team, please click on "Join Team Vancouver Shiba". If you would like to sponsor the team by making a donation, click on "Support Team Vancouver Shiba!".

Paws for a Cause 2010 Links:

1. Team Vancouver Shiba Homepage
2. Join Team Vancouver Shiba
3. Support Team Vancouver Shiba

Information for people joining the team:

• There is a $25 registration fee this year. It includes an event bag and a t-shirt.
• We are doing the 3.5 km walk not the 5 km run (although any team member is more than welcome to do so!)
• If a team member is concerned that they or their dog will be unable to walk a full 3.5 km, don't worry! The walk is optional and team members may give me their pledges to me and I will be sure to hand them in on registration day.
• At this time, the SPCA has not received their paper pledge forms. They are however, available for download on the Paws for a Cause website. The paper pledges should be available any day now (according to head office) and I will make sure to have some for the July Meetup.

For the 2009 Paws for a Cause, we came up with some pretty amazing and creative ways to raise money for animals in need.  We had the ol' standbys:  bake sales, raffles for gift baskets, 50/50 draws, etc.  And then we had an awesome t-shirt designed by our Meetup member and artist Jennifer Heine – we sold many t-shirts!  We also held a silent auction for a lovely pastel portrait of the winning bidder's pet done by renowned artist Caren Heine.  Thanks to the generous donations of Sheila & Pierre Lemaitre, we held a pet-related "garage sale" of sorts and we raised over $600!  Not to be forgotten are the people who made a donation to the team and the team members themselves who did a fantastic job raising over $5700. When you add that to the money raised by the 2008 team, that is a whopping $9000 for the BC SPCA.  I am hoping for another successful year for 2010.

If you have any ideas on how to raise money this year I'm all ears!  And if you have any questions about Paws for a Cause, don't hesitate to ask!

Jen, Koshi & Barkley