In Memoriam

 So yesterday was a bit of a rough day as I'm dealing with some personal loss at the moment, and in the evening I received 2 somber texts about dogs that I have loved, passing away. The first was from a good friend that has a pup out of one of my males, and they told me that in a few hours their dog would be put to sleep. I won't discuss the details here, as it is a personal issue, but it was a lovely dog, and I know the owner will be going through some hard times the way I did with Baron and Rin.

The second text, which was right after the first, was a message from my Shisho saying that Kotofusa had just passed away. He was 14years 10 months old, and the saving grace in this is that Koto lived a long and distinguished life. But when it comes to our dogs, it never seems long enough, does it? 

Born at Nidai Iwahori Sou on October 28th, 2008, out of the famous pairing of Teruhide Go and Sekihoume Go, Kotofusa signaled the beginning of a new wave of Shikoku in the Kanto region. Traditionally the level of quality of dogs in the east of Japan has always been second to the dogs from the west, but here we finally had a dog of quality that could compete at the NIPPO Grand National. 

Kotofusa went on to place 4th in class at the national in 2009, receiving a Waka-Inu prize, 3rd the following year in Waka-Inu 2, 2nd in 2011 as a Soken, 5th as an adult male in 2012, and 6th the following year in 2013. He retired as a 'Kansei Ken' (finished dog) after winning 6 Honbusho, and I had the honor of showing him for that 6th win (and of course at the Grand National).

Winning his 6th Honbusho at the NIPPO Tokyo Branch Show

His legacy lives on in the breed, most notably in dogs like Yoshishizuha Go who placed 3rd in the adult male class in 2016, and in Yoshi's son Jukaishuu Go who took Best of Breed at the Grand National in 2019.

For a rookie handler who had just gotten into the breed, Kotofusa was not an easy dog to show. We went through a trial by fire together, often placing lower than we should have due to my inability to control him. His placings as an adult male were far lower than expected, especially in 2013 when we were earmarked to possibly take Best of Breed. But oh the memories. 

RIP Koto. You live on in the dogs here at my house, and as part of all those Shikoku living happily with their owners all over the world.