January 2025 Newsletter
A message from the President
Greetings everyone! Here we are at the beginning of another year and although we are already into winter, we are prepared for it. We have continued to do lots of work on the shelter building and grounds over the past year to ensure the animals will be comfortable as the cold weather approaches. Inside, we added insulation in the back kennel area where the dogs are housed. We also replaced the old oil furnaces with new, more energy efficient propane ones. Outside, the dogs are still enjoying a large section of our grounds that was enclosed by chain link fencing last year for volunteers to take them out to run freely. It is a wonderful area and the dogs and volunteers love it! We have now installed high efficiency outdoor lighting in that area so volunteers can more easily see when they are exercising the dogs at night. Other details, including widening the driveway, are included in the list below.
Our staff and volunteers continue to do an excellent job of meeting safety and health requirements while caring for our animals. They have found loving homes for 103 cats and 51 dogs so far this year, including several litters of kittens. We are very fortunate to have so many dedicated volunteers as well as our hard working office staff who all go the extra mile to look after our animals and find them caring forever homes. A huge thank you to everyone for your help!
Once again, we’ve had a number of generous donations from individuals, bequests and corporate partners this year and we are truly grateful for their help as well. Covid is not quite as much of a concern now, so while being careful, we did carry on with our previous fundraisers. We had another large yard sale on June 29 plus several smaller fundraisers and the revenue from our Cat’s Meow shop on Boucher Street in Meaford, all of which keep us going. On behalf of the animals, thank you!
Our staff and volunteers continue to do an excellent job of meeting safety and health requirements while caring for our animals. They have found loving homes for 103 cats and 51 dogs so far this year, including several litters of kittens. We are very fortunate to have so many dedicated volunteers as well as our hard working office staff who all go the extra mile to look after our animals and find them caring forever homes. A huge thank you to everyone for your help!
Once again, we’ve had a number of generous donations from individuals, bequests and corporate partners this year and we are truly grateful for their help as well. Covid is not quite as much of a concern now, so while being careful, we did carry on with our previous fundraisers. We had another large yard sale on June 29 plus several smaller fundraisers and the revenue from our Cat’s Meow shop on Boucher Street in Meaford, all of which keep us going. On behalf of the animals, thank you!
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Richard Banks, Board President |
Some of our Activities This Year
Many thanks to the Haunted Farm for so many lovely donations and for putting on such a fun community event! Our pets will love all the goodies!
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Holiday Craft and Vendor Show at Owen Sound Legion
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Pet Photos with Santa was a great success too! Shown here are our former GBAS puppy Harvey and big brother Harry, who were thrilled to get treats from Santa. Many thanks to Adam at Global pet foods Owen Sound for organizing the event. Thanks to everyone who brought their furry friends for a holiday visit!
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Happy Faces - Some Adoptees This Year!
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Shelter Improvement Highlights
- Lighting - Outside powerful LED floodlights were installed on the building's east side gable and south side gable. This was much needed for the late fall/winter/early spring time frames to provide lighting for our evening dog walkers as they use the walking trails in the field to the south and east areas of the shelter building.
- Outdoor kennels - Many of the old outdoor dog kennels were quite dilapidated and in need of constant repair. In the spring the worst kennels were replaced with 7 new commercial grade chain link kennels, and using volunteer labour, roof covers were built to cover a portion of each of these kennels to provide suitable cover during hot sunny weather, etc.
- Furnaces - The two old oil furnaces were replaced with more energy efficient propane furnaces.
- Driveway widening - The old entrance has always been too narrow for larger service vehicles especially, and general ease of access/egress for all vehicles. This fall the driveway entrance was substantially widened and is now much safer for all vehicles coming/going.
- A cell phone signal booster has been installed.
- A large cat litter box wash station was installed in the garage.
- Large white boards were installed around the shelter to more easily provide information on individual dogs/cats such as upcoming spay/neuter dates, incoming surrenders or upcoming adoptions, and info re: treats, toy restrictions, or behavioural issues.
Meet Your Staff
- Laurie has moved into a more specialized role as our in-house veterinary technician.
- Karinna has a background working for a reputable dog breeder and comes to us who comes to us with lots of energy and enthusiasm.
- Mandy volunteered at the shelter in the past and brings lots of people skills and administrative experience.
- Natasha is a professional handler of dogs in dog shows, runs her own grooming salon, and is also a CKC registered breeder and handler of Cocker Spaniels. She has done a great job grooming our pets, especially some that come in to us heavily matted.
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Fundraising and Upcoming Events
2024 was a busy year for fundraising at GBAS. We had a few sales fundraisers, everything from West Coast Seeds to Deadly Grounds coffee to hoodies and t-shirts sporting the GBAS logo. We have a few ongoing fundraisers as well - Boscoe & Roxy's gourmet dog biscuits and catnip seeds, both still available at the Shelter.
Some of the Great Fundraising Events We Had in 2024:
Some of the Great Fundraising Events We Had in 2024:
- Art show by Studio XX called "PUP-arazzi" in the Legacy Gallery at the Owen Sound Artists' Co-op. The opening reception on January 6 was lots of fun.
- Pooch Playoffs: A Competition for the Ulti-Mutt Cutie, sponsored by Kristin Gowan Photography. 16 furry friends had a professional photo shoot, and one was crowned the cutest of them all.
- Trivia night at Heartwood with Trivia by Ross.
- Our first annual June BBQ, where we were joined by Black Rabbit Racing and a baby goat! Thanks to Pet Valu Owen Sound for sponsoring this event.
- GBAS annual yard sale - well attended despite a rainy long weekend.
- Our first annual Dog Jog, held on October 5 at Harrison Park in Owen Sound. We had 50 puppers register for the event, along with their human companions. It was a glorious sunny day and everyone had a great time. Dog Jog 2025 will be held on Saturday, October 4. Watch our Facebook page for details.
- A Garden Tea, hosted by one of our volunteers, who also does the ever-popular Apple Pie Fundraiser and a lovely Wildlife Art Show
- The No Balls Ball: a Spay-ghetti Dinner and Dance at Stone Tree, featuring local favourite band Grey Road 1. Thanks again to our sponsors for this event: Baywest Toyota; Profile Drilling; Todd & Associates IG Private Wealth Management; Shine Bright Like A Diamond Cleaning; and Shannon Deckers, Realtor.
- Pet Photos with Santa at Global Pet Foods in Owen Sound
- The Holiday Craft Show at the Owen Sound Legion, organized by long-time supporter Margie Doman.
The Cat's Meow
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Our Cat’s Meow store in Meaford is a charity shop that sells donated small household goods such as lamps, tables, chairs, books, decor items and kitchen implements, among other things and is totally volunteer run.
We are now open Tuesday, Thursday, Fridays and Saturday, 10 am to 2 pm. A combination of fantastic donations of goods and steady sales provide a welcome source of income for the shelter! Thanks to all who have donated items to sell and to our hard working volunteers who run the store! The store entrance is on Boucher Street just off Sykes - come and visit! |
