A boy and his dog make it to Westminster show

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

This week, 11-year old Benjamin Ceccarelli of Mountain Home, traveled to New York City with his mother, Laurie, and his dog, Ace, to compete in the prestigious Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

Ceccarelli, who has been showing dogs competitively for the past couple of years, had to gain 13 wins in the last year to qualify for the NYC show.

The boy and his dog sacrificed many Saturdays and logged hundreds of hours on the road throughout the Western region of the country to attend shows and eventually get enough wins to compete in the Junior Showmanship category.

Ace, whose official American Kennel Club name is Ch. Red Rock Ace in the Hole, is a lively, energetic Parsons Russell terrier with a wiry coat of mostly white hair and a smaller, short stature.

Recommended by a family friend who raises this breed of terriers, Ceccarelli went through three different dogs before finding a suitable competing partner in Ace.

With a substantial amount of time devoted to training his dog, Ceccarelli has managed to not neglect his schoolwork at Hacker Middle School and maintains a 3.0 GPA, a requirement of youth competing in the dog shows.

Ceccarelli stays well-rounded and active through involvement in other favorite activies like playing football for one of the local Optimist teams.

Though he travels often by car with his mother to the regional shows, Ceccarelli has only had the opportunity to fly on an airplane once in his life and was excited at the prospect of visiting the Big Apple.

"I have always wanted to go and see the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building!", Ceccarelli said.

He received a scholarship from a Boise area kennel club for $1,000 to help him and his mother with travel expenses to attend the NYC show.

Results of the dog show competition were not available at press time but regardless of wins or losses, Ceccarelli will probably have some great stories to share with friends about his adventures in the big city.

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