Larger than Life - In Loving Memory of Coby Forman

 

I sit here trying to write truly the hardest thing I've ever had to, and I'm in constant tears as I do so. But I felt it was important for me to put my thoughts on paper about how much my dog Coby meant to me and to celebrate the gift of love that he gave our family for the past 12 years. It's something you hear from pretty much anyone who has a dog about "how special their dog is" but Coby was just so much more then that. He was my best friend, someone that was always by my side and loved me unconditionally no matter what. Simply looking at his big goofy face or lying with him was my safety blanket, and I feel so hurt without him

We got Coby back in the summer of 2009. The story goes like this:

Our first dog Riley unfortunately passed away on May 24, 2009 after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was a rescue and we never quite knew how old he was or previous health conditions he had, but he was a great dog for the 7 years we had him. Losing him was very tough but we knew that we had to fill the void eventually by getting another four-legged friend. What we didn't expect however was that happening just 7 days after he passed away, a situation I now look back as God's way of showing fate. We had gotten a call from a family friend who had an 8-week old puppy that they unfortunately couldn't keep, they lived in a high rise apartment and didn't think that they were able to properly care for an eventual 80+ pound dog. The entire family was skeptical about how soon this was, particularly my mom who was by far the closest to Riley, and I can't blame her for thinking that way. Despite most of the family being hesitant I spoke up, I said what did we have to lose? We could simply meet the dog and if it still felt too raw that would be okay

And 5 days later on May 29th, we were brought "Oliver" the Golden Doodle to come meet our family at 11pm at night. From the first moment I laid my eyes on him, I knew this was meant to be. He came right up to me and licked me on the face, proceeded to spend the visit bouncing around the house with just such a beautiful smile on his face. In that short visit, this little dog had won all of our hearts and we decided to keep "Oliver" but rename him Coby (my choice) and we officially adopted him on May 31st

In a matter of months Coby went from this little puppy to this giant fluffy 80-pound goof, but he still thought he was tiny and that's something he kept with him for the 12 wonderful years we had him. He would not hesitate to jump on the couch and plop down right on top of you, or just stick his big head right in your chest/face and just sit there with that big goofy smile he had. He was basically a therapy dog without actually being an official one, just being with him made me feel comfortable

From 2009-2013 I was away at University and I took every opportunity I could to come home from Guelph to see Coby. He was the type of dog that was happy to meet any person that graced his presence, a dog with a truly larger than life personality that we always joked was a human in a dog's body. He was Coby but he had so many nicknames from my brother Kyle and I: Cobybeef, Cobyashi, Cobbers, Beef, Coba-Cooby, Cooper to name a few

Coby was resilient dog, in 2016 he tore his ACL and it was the start of two years of consecutive surgeries and rehab for the guy. As a result of the first surgery he tore his meniscus in his other knee due to over compensation from the first ACL surgery, a common thing with ACL injuries in dogs. He then tore the ACL in his other knee and finally his meniscus in the other one, which means he had two ACL and two meniscus surgeries in 2 years. And yet, he had a smile on his face the entire time. Post surgery you would have never known he had been injured in the first place, we called him the bionic dog. People couldn't believe when we told them how old he was because they'd always assume he was a puppy, it was that puppy jovial spirit that he had for his entire life

In the summer of 2019 we added Maui to our family, despite being 10 years old Coby still had a ton of energy and we wanted him to have a friend to play with in his remaining years. At first Coby was almost ignoring Maui, which was funny because Maui absolutely adored him. She followed him everywhere he went and mimicked everything he did, even lying in the exact same positions. It took a while but Coby eventually warmed up to her, and they became best friends. It was such a joy to see how much that Maui just loved doing whatever Coby was, no matter what that was

In March of 2020 the pandemic started and found myself home almost 100% of the time, meaning I spent every second with Coby and Maui. I developed a routine of waking up super early (mostly by Maui waking me up) to feed them breakfast and take them outside. Maui would always wait for Coby to come out of my parents bedroom and would not go downstairs until Coby went first. She wouldn't start eating until Coby started eating, almost like she waited for him to make every decision

We celebrated Coby's 12th birthday on March 31st of this year, it started to daunt on me that I might not have much time left with him but he was still in perfect health. He had a vet checkup in June and everything was fine, which why this is all so sudden and shocking. He went from stopping eating and throwing up Friday to passing away peacefully early in the morning on Wednesday August 18th. A matter of 5 days and just like that he's gone

While I knew this day was inevitable and one day would come, I truly believed he would make it through this. He was smiling until his last breath and the only thing that comforts me right now is knowing that he wasn't suffering and was able to pass away in the comfort of his home surrounded by his family who loved him more than life itself. I spent every second with him in his last few days and it just breaks my heart that this was the way I had to say goodbye to my best friend in the entire world. Just hours before he passed away, my mom captured this picture of us together and he was happy and smiling to the end, too weak to stand up or to eat and drink but he still licked me on the nose once. Almost his way of saying goodbye without me realizing at the time

I am heartbroken and just completely devastated, it's the most hurt I've ever felt in my entire life and I truly am just crushed. He was so much more then just a dog, he was my entire world. He was with me through the shitty times when I had my concussions and couldn't connect with anyone, he would keep me company. There are just so many day to day routine things that he was always with me that makes this just so hard, I constantly am expecting to see his face and it breaks my heart.

I know this won't last forever but right now this is just the worst I've ever felt in my lifetime. It feels like I lost a part of me that I'll never get back and it's just so hard to really grasp that he's not with us anymore. People joke about broken hearts but they are a very real thing, physically, emotionally, mentally I am hurting. I would do anything to be able to pet him or kiss his face one more time

In loving memory of the best dog you could ever have and my best friend in the entire world

Rest in Peace Coby Forman 03/31/2009 - 08/18/2021