Living with the lapdog of luxury

Champion Stonebroke Right on the Money, Ben or Benlow to friends and fans, is a Sealyham terrier who leads what some people think is really a dog’s life.

The 4-year-old pooch lives in a large kennel in Rialto, Calif., works out on a treadmill 15 minutes each morning, gets regular massages, eats chicken breast with his dog food twice a day, takes Vitamin C and a vitamin shipped from Sedona, gets fl axseed oil daily, is a lapdog in coach class (a crate below a plane would be beneath him), has a professional handler, and sleeps in a large dog crate on fl eece-white pads and spends most of his time on white carpet so his coat of the same color won’t become soiled.

Linda and Mickey Low of Scottsdale own the 26-pound dog who fetched best in group last month at the American Kennel Club/ Eukanaba National Championship in Long Beach, Calif. The passion for dogs bit the Lows 17 years ago when Linda bought two giant schnauzers for her husband when he retired from his jewelry manufacturing firm in New York. The couple, who have six children, previously bred Arabian horses and entered them in shows.

“We enjoy doing this,” Linda Low, 64, said of their fancy for dogs. “We go to the shows. We watch our dogs.” (They own about 12; two are at home). “We take retired champions home or fi nd loving homes for them, if they aren’t going to be used to breed. When we started, we decided we wanted show-quality dogs, but not necessarily to show them.”

Ben was the No. 1 terrier in the United States last year and won at the Montgomery County (Penn.) Kennel Club show, the largest all-terrier show in the Unites States, with nearly 2,500 terriers competing.

“It’s like the Westminster (Dog Show) when your dog wins something like this,” Linda Low said of the top canine competition in New York. “You OWN the terrier world.”

The Lows own Ben, but see him only about twice a month at shows. He doesn’t play with other dogs in his kennel and must do his business on small white rocks rather than grass because the green could stain his coat. Because of weekend show work, he gets Mondays off because he’s usually dog tired.

Ben’s life isn’t that of a normal pooch who lays around, plays, does tricks, looks nice and just serves as mans’ best friend. Simply put, he’s a trophy dog.

Low disagrees.

“He leads a tremendously normal life,” she said. “I’d like to lead a life like his. He plays with his handler’s (Gabriel Rangel) three children every day when they get home from school. He eats very well. He gets to bed by 7 p.m.

“These dogs have great fun. Look at all the attention they get. They’re loved, pampered and groomed all the time. Dogs like this are handled more than the average dog. Show dogs are wonderful with children, too. They don’t just go onto a leash in a showroom. They are family pets; at least our show dogs are,” she said.

As of November, Ben is the No. 1 Sealyham terrier on Dog News’ top 10 list, No. 2 terrier overall and No. 4 among all breeds. Ben was bred by Howard Stone of Modesto, Calif. The close-clipped 4-year-old with a long creamy beard has won 63 best in show awards, according to Low, who bought him when he was 3 months old. She wouldn’t reveal the price.

Low, who owned an executive search firm, said while it generally costs well into six figures annually to maintain a show dog, even people who aren’t well off can become involved.

“It’s around $30 to $35 to enter a dog in a show,” she said. “The owner can be the dog’s handler. You don’t reap any real monetary awards; Ben won $5,000 in Portland, Ore. in early 2006.”

How does Low answer those who call show-dog owners snobs? “We’re not snobs,” she said, “but we like purebred dogs, not mixed breeds. That’s our snobbery.”