Go West Inkosi!

12/28/2007 Puppy Inkosi in Jeanie's Shadow

Loving on Jeanie. Lunch at Auntie Kim's.

Sleeping on the table. Inkosi would often do this. He never snatch or begged - just rested his head and slept.

Abbey and Inkosi. Abbey pass away 9/21/09 she was nearly eleven. Now with Inkosi gone Jeanie has an all too quiet home.

California, Long Beach, at the Eukanuba shows in December 2008.

Endurance Trial - Michigan National Specialty May 2009

Top Twenty Gala - National Specialty - Michigan 2009

Obedience - National Specialty, Michigan 2009

Practicing at a San Antiono show

In the Group Ring

Completing his JC

Learning to jump at Auntie Kim's - Iskandar

Inkosi was always good with children.

His favorite spot on the home couch.

Reserve Best in Show at the International Puppy Show

Sit/Stay practice with his friend Coco at Iskandar.

Head shots by professional photographer Chris Smith. In Fort Worth.

Relaxing with his girlfriends Coco & Roxie.

More sit/stay with Coco. She and Inkosi qualified for the first leg on their CD at the Michigan National Specialty. Inkosi went on to complete his CD recently.

On a walk with Jeanie.

At the beach in Long Beach with Auntie Kim.

Forever Young

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Inkosi Inkulu 6/7/06 - 10/24/09

His name means "the great master" in Xhosa.

AKC HP22498603

Conformation Championships: AKC, UKC, International Puppy

Performance: Rally Novice, Companion Dog, Endurance Trial, Junior Courser

Behavior: Canine Good Citizen, Therapy Dog International

Multiple AKC breed winner and group placer

Multiple UKC Best in Show Winner

TVRRCOT Regional Specialty Multiple Award of Merit Winner

Award of Excellence at the Invitational Eukanuba Show 2008

Top Twenty 2008 Rhodesian Ridgeback Club of the United States of America

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Inkosi, owned by Jeanie Rance Marr, died Saturday in a tragic accident.

Jeanie had left him to play with a sweet female ridgeback for a few hours and when she returned she found

him strangled to death. The collar that had always been taken off when he played with other dogs was forgotten and left on.

The female dog's mouth was still entangled in his collar. She was traumatized but otherwise okay. A neighbor answered Jeanie's screams and

cut the collar off.

Jeanie asked the neighbors to call me and I came from across town as fast as possible. We, Shirley, Jeanie and I, found an all night clinic to take him to and filled out the paperwork for a private cremation. It was all too sad and so horrible.

Jeanie is a weeping zombie right now. She blames herself. I stayed with her Saturday night at her home and then brought her here to Iskandar Sunday night. She will probably be here another day or so.

Inkosi was everything to Jeanie. She took him with her so many places; the bank, the doctor's office where she works one day a week, everywhere.

He lived in his short life more than most dogs live in a life of full measure. He was loved and known by many. Jeanie believes his greatest achievement was when he jumped into the pool to save a child. Incredibly, Jeanie had Inkosi collected two weeks ago for the first, and now, only time.

Jeanie's home is now all too quiet. Just last month she lost Abbey, her old girl. Inkosi and Jeanie grieved for Abbey. One reason Jeanie search for close by playmates.

Inkosi was the best dog I ever traveled with. He was clean and easy and fun. He got along with every dog he ever met. Jeanie and I started a blog for Inkosi, from his perspective, last year when we went to Eukanuba. We added to it with photos from the National Specialty in May.

Donations to a ridgeback rescue of your choice in Inkosi's name would be a lovely gesture and one that Jeanie would appreciate.

Jeanie wants to thank all the people who loved and supported Inkosi and her in their sporting events. Thanks to all the friends, vendors, handlers, and judges who made Jeanie's and Inkosi's life together fun and beautiful. Thanks to his breeder and all the breeders who who made his life possible.

Thanks to all the kind and thoughtful people who have reached out to her in the last few days.

Most regrettably,

Kim Conrow

Iskandar

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Kim and Inkosi December 2008 in Long Beach, CA.

Synchronicity - Golden Slumbers - Farewell Inkosi

November fifth, 2009, I experienced a synchronicity which gave me pause and caused wonder at the unknown and unknowable which surrounds us always.

I had picked up Inkosi’s remains from my vet. The carbon that was him at death was now in the form of ashes in a cedar box with an engraved gold label reading, “INKOSI”. That box was on end in a brown paper bag with handles. Attached to one handle was a small white oval label with scalloped edges tied on with white tooling. It read, “Inkosi Marr”. I sat in my car embracing the bag and box and wept. My tears fell on the box end. I took my finger and moved the tears around on the pretty wood and whispered, “I love you.”

There was a job to do. I had to pull myself together. Jeanie had met me that morning and given me the book of Inkosi’s show photos, certificates, snap shots and a lamb shepherd’s pie to share together later that evening. It was a Thursday, the day I would often meet Jeanie at the highway, picking up Inkosi for the day. When we got to Iskandar he would first go around the side yard smelling and marking while I arranged my dogs. Ranger, my only male, was not male friendly but “the girls” loved Inkosi. He loved my old bitch Carly so much. She is six years his senior while Roxie and Coco are his peers. He would lick Carly all over and dance around her for thirty or more minutes. She would allow his advances and try play games but once her body was covered in slobber from head to tail she would give up and retreat to the settee outside or the couch inside. Inkosi would obsess on Carly if I didn’t get him playing with the young girls. Oh how they ran and romped and hunted! After the play it would be nap time and all would rest until Jeanie came. I would sleep on the recliner with Inkosi by my legs. The girls would rest on the couch. When Jeanie got here we would often practice obedience or jumps with Inkosi and Coco and then relax with a G&T by the pool. Those were the days.

Today was different. Instead of romping and napping with dogs I had funeral duties to attend. I had to pick up beloved Inkosi’s remains and then go to Kinkos and scan sixty two pages of certificates and photos representing the the life and times of him and the hopes and dreams of Jeanie. Digital scans were needed. Jeanie wanted to submit a memorial ad in the next breed magazine and the heavy album would be too much to carry on her upcoming trip to Africa. She was headed there in ten days. A zip drive of her album would suffice to show her family Inkosi’s and her accomplishments and the beauty of the dog that had been her life for the last three years.

“Pull yourself together girl!” I told myself in the parking lot of my vets. “You have a job to do.” A couple of quick slaps to my face and I was off to the copy store. On came the radio. “Golden Slumbers” from The Beetles’ Abbey Road Album began. It played from the top of the song through “Carry That Weight” and “The End”. It ended when I reached my destination.

Really? How could that be? I cried again the whole way.

Once there was a way, to get back homeward,

Once there was a way, to get back home

Sleep pretty darling do not cry, and I will sing a lullaby

Golden slumbers fill your eyes, smiles awake you when you rise

Sleep pretty darling do not cry, and I will sing a lullaby

Once there was a way, to get back homeward,

Once there was a way, to get back home

Sleep pretty darling do not cry, and I will sing a lullaby

Boy you're gonna carry that weight, carry that weight for a long time

I never give you my pillow, I only send you my invitations

And in the middle of the celebrations, I break down

Boy you're gonna carry that weight, carry that weight for a long time

Oh yeah, all right, are you gonna be in my dreams tonight?

Love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you,

Love you, love you, love you

And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love, you make, Ah

------ The Beatles

What are the odds? “Golden Slumbers” filled my heart.

The Abbey Road album? Jeanie’s eleven year old girl Abbey had gone to her rest just weeks before. “Golden Slumbers-Carry That Weight-The End” was the song trio I had wept to over and again last fall when my Ezra was dying of bone cancer at eleven years of age. My son, Adam, had just gotten the album and he played it a lot. I put the lyrics into Ezra’s eulogy sent to the rr-picture list last year. A dear, kind person, Deb, on the list had used it in a web site she created for him. Deb, inspired, used the lyrics in another site she created, “Passages”, which gives homage to Ridgebacks who have passed.

Synchronicity usually happens when the limbic system is in a heightened state like extreme happiness or sadness. A person experiences an event that connects other events in a significant and meaningful way. The “connection event”, the synchronicity, is highly unlikely to happen. To some it demonstrates the interconnectedness of the universe.

For me, that day, after copying his book and reviewing his photos and accomplishments, I felt I had received a message from Inkosi. That message was, “I know you love me. I love you too. I am alright and am with those other dogs whom you also love.”

Auntie Kim