The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, 57, shared a photo of her Pomeranian Pink Dog on Instagram Tuesday, with the caption, “Rest in peace Pink Dog, we are devastated to see you go so suddenly… you were such a happy pink dog and we will miss you dreadfully, we love you 💕.”
Pink Dog – who is thought to be around five years of age – was Pink by name and by nature, with the reality star having the dog’s white fur tinted pink with food colouring regularly.
Vanderpump, who is never without her pups, spoke to PEOPLE in March about opening her own rescue dog shelter, Vanderpump Dogs.
“I think opening a rescue center was kind of our idea of reinventing the wheel for the rescue dogs,” Vanderpump said. “I just felt that if we could create a situation where it wasn’t so depressing. People are sometimes slightly reluctant to immerse themselves and go walking into he kill shelters when rescuing dogs. It can be very upsetting.”
“It’s like a puppy palace,” she added. “Everything about it — the chandeliers, the music, we’ve got a lot of great, kind beautiful people who are volunteering, the velvet couches, the coffee tables — everything about it is so different, but yet it feels so right.”
The star has dedicated herself to trying to end the Yulin Dog Meat Festival in China, where they torture, kill and eat dog meat. Vanderpump and her husband, Ken Todd, brought awareness to it and were creating a documentary.
“What we’re trying to do is create more humane treatment for dogs worldwide,” she said. “We are really trying to educate people. It’s ambitious for me to think that I can create change in the world by advocating that people don’t eat dog meat. Everybody has their own fight — this is mine. My fight against Yulin wasn’t so much against the dog meat trade — which I find repulsive — but it was also more about the torture of dogs.”
This article originally appeared on PEOPLE