In late October 2007 we received email from our friend Linda Pacioretty, who has Jacki's sister from a different litter. She sent us the following message from Jacki's mom. We are very sad to hear of her loss and our thoughts go to her family.

"Hi Linda,I just thought I would let you know that Jacki has crossed the Rainbow Bridge... I miss her very much. ..this really tore us up even more than expected. There is no better breed. Really fabulous dogues."

Jacki's Story

Jacki is the daughter of MyVeryOwn Tinkerbelle and our boy Levon. She lives with her family, the Chaput's in Burlington, Ontario Canada. Mom Lori sends us this bio on Jackie:

Born March 2, 2001 to Tinkerbelle and Levon... cutest and sweetest puppy in the whole world. She is so gentle, she still has the toys she came to us with! She would never destroy one of her toys, they still all have squeakers, etc. If she hears one start to rip she will let go! She is spoiled rotten and spends most of her time lounging on our king size bed (which we had to buy because of her!).

Always a very smart, very well behaved puppy and dogue who only aims to please and hates to be in trouble. You teach her something once, she remembers it forever! She can't talk, but I swear she fluently understands the english language.

Jacki likes to be outdoors, but hates extreme temperatures. She likes her walks, but isn't a great athlete She has hip dysplasia which has been evident from a very young age, so she often would fall while running. She LOVES to swim.

She has always had ongoing health issues such as skin irritation and bowel problems. No exact cause was ever determined, but we (and our vet) feel she probably has many allergies. She is 'environmentally sensitive'. At age 3 she blew her left ACL and had the steel plate inserted. She recovered well, but with the hip dysplasia has never been able to walk further than around the block since then.

At age 4 (June /05) she started to seizure, and had about 5 seizures within a few weeks. She was diagnosed with epilepsy at the University of Guelph, but phenobarbitol has fully controlled the seizures for the past year. U. of Guelph also diagnosed her with Cushing's disease at the same time.

Between the phenobarbital and the Cushing's disease, Jacki has lost a lot of muscle mass over the past year, and her skull has sunken in. She is weak, and we can hear her bones creak when she stands up. Sometimes her jaw will crack too, but she is still eating and enjoying her cookies as usual! Despite all her problems she is still the sweetest, cutest dogue who just aims to please her family!

Thanks Lori for updating us on Jacki. :-) - Andrea & Tom