Interview with Jose Luis Santiago – Professional Dog Handler
Published in Best in Show Annual 2018
BIS: Dear Jose Luis, thank you for taking your time to make this interview with us. Please, at the beginning,, tell us how have you got involved with dogs? Have you first started with breeding or showing?
J.L.S.: Thanks a lot for having me, it is a pleasure to speak with Best in Show.
I think that since I can remember I have had dogs in the family, but my real start in the dog world came with my older sister Mercedes, with her I established our kennel “Los Chatos del Norte”, about 10 years ago.
We started going to the shows at the North of Spain as a hobby, and to show some purebred dogs she already owned. This was when my passion for pugs started, when I only was 10 years old, I showed the first pug which she had bought as a companion dog when this breed was completely unknown to the general public in our country.
BIS: Do you remember your first show, which dog did you show? Did you have a mentor at the beginning?
J.L.S.: I do not remember my first show exactly, but I remember the dog. His name was Dali, a Pug born at home. I learnt a lot with him, all in the amateur way, since I haven’t had any knowledge of this sport, and I was only a kid. I did not know that this crazy life style could be my way of life years afterwards.
I did not have anyone in particular to learn from, but I always liked to take a bit of each person I admired.
BIS: What about your first Best in Show and how did you feel winning your first BIS?
J.L.S.: My first Best in Show was with my female Pug when she was only 17 months old. It was something amazing , all the effort and daily work payed off that day, I was really thrilled. I only remember it was an International show in Portugal.
It is a great memory and I will treasure it forever!
BIS: What result do you consider as your biggest and the best one?
J.L.S.: I think that each goal that you try to achieve is the most important one, at the moment you achieve your goal, you need to have the next one in mind, it is the unique way to improve day by day.
BIS: How many shows per year do you attend?
J.L.S.: A few years ago we were going to many more shows, but these last years we have been trying more to select the places we want to go to, but I would say around 35 shows a year.
BIS: When did you start breeding and why Pugs and Griffons?
J.L.S.: As I have answered your previous questions, my sister has bought her first pet Pug 25 years ago and I felt in love with the breed , so as soon as I became older I founded a kennel with my sister, it all started with her.
The Griffon Bruxellois came a bit later, because of the film…. “As Good As it Gets” …. Curiosity arose, I studied a bit about the breed and I managed to see one at a show. A short time later, I had my first Griffon at home, Gala, she is in all our pedigrees. I must say that it is such a special breed that from the moment it enters your life you completely fall in love with its personality.
BIS: Your girlfriend, Ainara Otegui, is also involved with dogs. When did you start working together and would you say that being with someone who has the same passion and job is easier to understand each other and be with?
J.L.S.: More than 5 years ago I have been lucky to meet a “crazy dog lover” who was worse than me. We help each other and we learn one from another, it is nice to be able to share with someone all of this passion and to be able to enjoy it together, I think that this is the best of “my dog world “ I hope I can enjoy all of this with her for a long time ☺
BIS: Do you have a favorite show?
J.L.S.: Without any doubts I would answer 1000 times the same, 4 Summer Night Shows, Split, in my opinion one of the best shows at the moment, each year they improve and they surprise us all. I would recommend to everyone of the dog world to attend that show at least once in their lives.
BIS: Which was the favorite dog that you ever handled, and was this dog also your most successful one?
J.L.S.: I have a lot of dogs which I have enjoyed inside and outside the ring, but I would be crazy if I didn’t name the Smooth Coated Chihuahua Dartan The Valiant Aladar; he was the perfect partner to travel with, to whom I owe everything. He taught me how to enjoy myself in the ring, to keep calm, to win and to lose. He taught me that when one works hard, good things happen.
However, although if he was the unique dog in the ring, he was just as great out of it. Now, he is enjoying a well-deserved retirement at his home with his owner in Peru. He is without any doubts my special dog .
BIS: Which part of your job do you like the least in this business?
J.L.S.: The thing which I least enjoy is the people who enter this dog world only to harm the others and who have no respect for anything or anyone.
Everyone deserves to be respected and that is something that usually is missing at a dog show, between handlers or owners.
BIS: Have you ever had crisis which made you consider quitting this job?
J.L.S.: Yes at least once a month… hahah. In some occasions I was wandering if it was worth going through all that , but at the end, when you wake up you decide to start again, because there are more good moments than the bad ones.
BIS: What would you do if you hadn’t decided to be a handler?
J.L.S.: I have no idea…. but for sure something to do with animals.
BIS: Is there anything in life that you would like to do or to visit, which is your life dream?
J.L.S.: This year, for the first time we will travel to New York to be present at Westminster. It’s something that we have wanted to do for a long time, to see how it all works there and to learn more from them. Just to be able to step on the green carpet at Westminster, with a dog bred by me, is one of my big dreams, hope one day I will be prepared to be there.
BIS: What do you respect the most in judging skills?
J.L.S.: I like the judges which I call “ doggy people” the ones that breed and the ones who are driven by the same passion as the people who are showing their dogs to them each weekend, the ones who enjoy what they are doing, that have class and respect inside the ring .
No doubt I think it is very important to be honest, to judge by type and to know the essence of the breed they are judging.
BIS: Please tell us a name or two, if there are any, whose skills you admire when it comes to breeding, showing, grooming or judging?
J.L.S.: In breeding skills I would say Alberto Velasco ( chelines ); without any doubts I think that he is one of the best breeders in the world. He is an encyclopaedia with legs from whom you can learn each moment, even having a normal conversation while you enjoy his company and his famous “chistorra omelette”. He is a person which I always keep very close to my heart and I really care about his opinion. As a professional handler I could mention a few names, but Javier Gonzalez Mendikote , apart from being a good friend, is in my opinion, a person who represents what a handler should look like, work, sacrifice , constancy, perfectionism, passion…. Among the Judges Carlos Renau, someone which I could also include as one of the best breeders, he made a person to want and like to see the finals, either from the inside of the ring or outside of it as public, a real dog person with capital letters, a judge and a breeder which I was very lucky to know well.
BIS: How would you describe a professional handler? What are the most important skills for a handler?
J.L.S.: I really like this question, I think that a prof handler is born with something special inside which makes him able to give life to dogs and to live for them. We dispense with a lot of things and even a lot of people, but we feel full and satisfied with our four-legged friends. Someone who wakes up at 8.00 in the morning and goes to sleep at 01.00 at the next morning, someone who dedicates his 24 h a day to take care of dogs that are under his responsibility, who cleans shit and prepares them mentally and physically. Someone who works daily with them to show it inside the ring, who lives with them and treats them as they were his own, someone who grooms them with style and brings out the best in them, not forgetting the breed standard. I think that as far as grooming is concerned, a handler must have an artist touch of his own personality, this is in my opinion of what a handler should be. The most important ability of a handler is to be able to understand the dog one has on the leash, dog’s psychology in my opinion is fundamental.
BIS: What about Junior Handling and do you think that Professional Handlers and judges should work more with young people?
J.L.S.: In my country this is something that should improve a lot, they should let professional handlers judge that category, something which is not common here in Spain. Who can be better to give advice to a junior handler than older people who do the job professionally? To defend Spain, it seems that nowadays a group of people is starting to work on improving the jh in our country , let’s hope that takes the right direction.
BIS: If you could, what would you change in dog world?
J.L.S.: All and nothing. But as I cannot change anything, if you permit me, I would keep that answer for myself, hahaha
