Hello, my name is Lorraine. Today I had to put my little sheltie to sleep. She
seemed to go down hill pretty fast after being diagnosed May 23 of renal
failure.. Her name was ForrestFlair English Lady, we called her Twiglet, or,
Twiggy. She was a sable Shetland sheepdog. She was only 6 years young.  We had
gotten her in England and she was a good companion to my little girl, who was 4
at the time. 
  My family was in the military and when I was younger, we always had dogs and
cats.  Sometimes my sisters and I would come home from school and our pet would
be gone. My parents would give them away for some dumb reason.  I vowed that
once I was old enough, when I got a dog, it would be forever.  Twiggy was my
little girl. God, I miss her so badly. I hurt physically inside. I was there
with her the whole time, to say goodbye and tell her that I loved her and always
will.  I could not ever replace her.  If someday, we happen to acquire another
sheltie, it will not be like her.  We have another dog, Farley (a tri sheltie )
and he searches for her. It breaks my heart. Now I am afraid to take him to the
Vets.  This past May 23, we took Twiggy to the vet to have some teeth removed
and cleaned.  Upon doing routine blood work for a 6 year old, we found anemia
and renal failure.  For almost 2 weeks, we tried everything. Kd diet, lactated
ringer under her skin, blood work, her creatinine levels and BUN levels were
higher than a cats' said the Vet. This past Wednesday, these two levels alone
went from 87, to 130 and 4.3 to 8.5.  The whole time the Vet kept saying that
our Twiggy was, is a stoic little dog.  I guess it is true, that the English
always try to maintain a 'stiff upper lip'.  And she did till the very end. I
will miss her riding in our car. She loved to sit in the front seat and go for
drives.  Even if it was around the block.  When my daughter would eat breakfast
in the morning, Twiggy always had this habit of positioning her rear near your
foot. And she would talk. In the middle of the night, if I got up to go to the
bathroom, from out of the darkness, she would come and stand up and rest her
paws on my knees. I'd bend down and cuddle her, and she'd nuzzle into my neck. 
She only did that with me.. She loved my husband.  When he came home for work,
she (even being sick just recently) would jump off of the couch and run like mad
to the door.  Talking the whole time.  I made the sad mistake of thinking that
Twiggy was my hubby's dog, and in the end, I find out that she loved us all for
different reasons.  She was my dog, my daughters' and my hubby's dog. I wish, or
I feel that its my fault.  I should have taken better care of her.  I let her
down.  I remember telling her off for vomiting on the rug.  I regret that. I
hate that I was mean to her this way.  She deserved better, and I let her down. 
Oh god I am sorry.