Shelbe Lin Kelsey Key 07/23/94 - 09/11/10

On Friday, September 2, 1994, I received one of the most precious and life changing gifts. I had just started nursing school in Sherman, Texas and did not know a sole there. I was living alone at the time and the guy I was dating gave me a fluffy 6 week old puppy to keep me company. The puppy was a white shih tzu with brindle spots. She weighed next to nothing. She was precious and I had NO idea what I was going to name her. For two days she remained nameless as I searched and searched for the perfect name. Finally, I came up with Shelbe Lin Kelsey Key. She was an awesome puppy and was potty trained within 12 weeks. She slept in a kennel right next to my bed for a short time, and then made her way into my bed. She finally topped out at a whopping 12 pounds, which is how much she weighed for the vast majority of her life.

Shelbe was wonderful. Anyone that knew anything about me, knew that I had a 'child'. I loved her and talked about her all the time. She was my pride and joy. She was my best friend and I confided in her about everything. I cried to her when I was scared, lonely, hurt or mad and I felt she listened. I studied with her and we learned nursing together. I would tell her things I had learned and again, she listened.

Over the years, Shelbe moved from Sherman to Dallas to Nacogdoches to Orange to Beaumont to Tuscaloosa, Alabama and then to her final destination of Tomball, Texas. She visited many places in between and became a favorite of my Nan Naw and Paw Paw. She was the spoiled grand dog and always had oatmeal cookies waiting for her at their house. They loved to dog sit and after they kept her, it always took a few days to get her grounded again.

Nan Naw and Shelbe - Christmas 2008

She saw me graduate nursing school, get married then divorced, suffer through miserable relationships and then 9 years later get married again. She loved Shane, and Shane loved her (although he may not admit it).

She loved Shane's dog Zach, and even better he loved her. We were so grateful that they got along so well and Zach made it very known that he wanted to be near her always. It was Zach who demanded they sleep together, and luckily she did not mind.

Zach curled up next to Shelbe

She had multiple names that she acquired through the years. She was my 'Sweet Baby Girl', 'Shelbster', 'Shelbeville', and "Sissy Girl.' She was always laid back and that definitely helped her in her later years.


When Shelbe was about 10, I noticed that she started getting cataracts. I took her to an ophthalmologist in Houston who did not feel it advisable to take out her cataracts because she had leakage behind her eye and removing the cataracts would cause her to have glaucoma and eventually go blind. Working in the eye field, I knew that glaucoma could be painful, and did not want that for her, so decided we would not undergo cataract removal. She slowly but surely became completely blind and also over the past few years deaf. Luckily, she coped with it all so well. She took her time walking around and did her best to maneuver here, there and everywhere. A little over a year ago she started having seizures and after taking her to the vet, found out that she had mild kidney failure. We changed the type of food she ate, and made sure she ate consistently to keep her blood sugar up. She had seizures occasionally and would loose bladder control during them. They really had not seemed to worsen over the year, but occurred at any given time. Before Camden was born, I had prayed and prayed that the Lord would allow Shelbe to stay alive long enough for Camden to meet her. I knew that he would hear stories about her and wanted there to be pictures of them together.

Shelbe and Camden

After he was born and that prayer had been answered, my next prayer was that Shelbe would die in her sleep so that I would not have to decide her life for her. Unfortunately, God did not answer that prayer in the way I wanted.


I dreaded when it was time for us to move from Alabama, because she had some vision when we moved there so was able to figure out her surroundings before completely losing her vision. I was really unsure if she would even make it back to Texas. But, she did. And seemed to be adjusting okay until this past week. By mid week, it seemed like she could no longer control her bladder and urinated in her bed and if not on the floor not far from her bed. I knew the time was coming but had been putting it off for quiet sometime. I actually had been trying to prepare myself since she was 13 years old, but recently had really been trying to accept the fact that her days were numbered. On Thursday, Shane went ahead and called around to different veterinary clinics to find out how much it would cost to put her to sleep. It was much more expensive than I had expected, and if you wanted to remain in the room with your animal it was about $50 or $60 more. Not only did I not want her gone, I didn't want to pay someone a lot of money to take her life. And further more, I did not want her to be alone when she passed. Also, I had issues with letting them dispose of the body because I really wanted to know where she was and since we have no permanent residence at this time, that was a problem. We had pretty much decided that Shane was going to take her to one of the places on Friday and broke the news to my nephews. They luckily were very understanding. I called my mom that evening to talk to her about it, and she knew that we were going to Lumberton to Shane's parents house and she suggested that we call Shelbe's veterinarian in Orange that we used for years and see what her charge was. I mentioned it to Shane, but figured he would just be taking care of things on Friday. So after a miserable and emotional evening we went to bed. On Friday morning, Camden and Shelbe took pictures together, although I was unable to capture just how excited Camden always was when I held him in one arm and her in the other. He loved that and would just pat and pat her.


Mason said his goodbyes before he headed to the bus stop and I loved on her and told her goodbye. It was a miserable morning and I broke down at daycare and multiple times at work. UGH!! At about 10:30 am Shane texted me and told me that he had contacted Dr. Kennedy in Orange and that she charged a minimal $50 and that included you being in the room with her. He suggested that we go ahead and take her there and then bury her in his parents back yard. That was such a relief! That definitely sounded better to me. So when I got home from work, I got to see her yet again.


My sister told me that evening that in the morning before Braden went to school, they talked to Shelbe and asked her to tell Skittles, their dog that they had lost last year, hello and that they missed her and loved her. Talk about more emotions!!! But, I do believe that she will see Skittles and that one day I will see her again!

Shelbe in the snow - 2009

So off to Lumberton we went. I had prepared myself now to go ahead and go with Shane to put her to sleep. I didn't know how I was going to do it, but felt like I should be there. I just did not want her to die alone. On Saturday morning we woke up and Shane told me I should just stay there and take care of Camden. I honestly do not think he wanted to have to deal with me and my emotions as well as the hard task of putting Shelbe to sleep. I knew he would love on her and be with her, so I stayed home. Before he left, he grabbed a Milkbone for the road, I said one last good bye to Shelbe, and they were gone. It was a somber time and I hate that Shane had to do it. But, I was grateful that he did. He brought back her body and buried her in his parent's back yard. I am so glad I know where she is, even though it is so hard.

Zach standing by her burial place

Shelbe had a great life and brought me and many other people great joy. She is and will be so very missed. I love you Shelbe Lin!!!!