Different to the extreme. These are our protagonists today: Tirma (Talavera de la Reina, 2019) and Leo (Arganda del Rey, 2015), two Pomeranians who have learned to live together despite the age difference. I don't know if you know that the origin of the Pomeranian breed dates back to the Arctic and is associated with sled dogs. With this, I can already tell you that they are very active and a fundamental piece in the life of their closest relative, Blas Cantó (Ricote, 1991).
Blas is a singer, composer, he has won competitions such as Tu cara me Sonya and Los40 Music Awards, he has participated in Eurovision and has wonderful albums such as “El Príncipe”.
Together with Blas's partner, the four of them are inseparable. They form a family.
Tirma, Leo, Blas...
How are you?
Very good! I really want to talk to you, to tell you how we are, how we live. The truth is that we are a family.
First it was Leo. Your first dog?
Yes. There had never been dogs in the house. I know that my family, in Murcia, when I was not yet born, had one, but no more. I grew up without animals, well, not with dogs, but with goats, chickens, rabbits and everything imaginable on a farm, yes. Leo arrived in 2015, we went to look for him in Arganda del Rey, among other things, because I am allergic...
To the hair?
To the animals. Well, they say it's not hair, but a skin protein that they release in the form of dandruff or something like that. So, of course, I did some research and, although I still have a dog allergy, Pomeranians apparently are hypoallergenic, since they don't shed as much hair. At least Tirma and Leo don't give anything away.
It is true that when I touch them for a long time, I get allergic, but I can live well. In fact, my lung capacity has worsened considerably. My airways feel pretty screwed up, but I'm as good as I can be. I explain? Of course, as I mentioned, love moves mountains; Love conquers all. I cope with it by taking my medication to avoid suffering from such strong allergic outbreaks. But hey, as far as possible, Pomeranians are a breed that I quite tolerate.
What leads you to share your life with him?
When we started dating Dángelo in 2014, more than ten years ago, he wanted a dog because he had grown up with them. Of course, I'm allergic, so I told him that, although he couldn't promise anything, he was going to try. He convinced Me! It must be recognized that he is super responsible with the dogs. We are both in charge, but it is true that he more than me. Because of the allergy issue, if you have to comb them or interact more with them, he takes care of it. But well, I, almost always, provide them with food and it is something that they demand of me. Because, even though Dani is at home, they demand it from me!
It's funny because, if Leo is hungry, when I arrive and sit on the couch, he starts barking and demands that he wants to eat or drink. He has acquired that role with me.
But it was love that led me to share my life with a dog. Over time, and as we traveled a lot, I realized that Leo was very lonely, so we decided to take him everywhere. Of course, this means tightening your belt because it is not cheap to travel with a dog and, although it must be admitted that there are more and more of them, not all hotels or apartments are "pet-friendly", so I spent a lot of time alone. After four years, I saw online that a girl was giving away a Pomeranian in Talavera de la Reina. It's curious, Leo is from Arganda del Rey and Tirma is from Talavera de la Reina. They are my King and my Queen.
I can't stop thinking about the intense love that Blas feels for Tirma and Leo. Not everyone would choose to endure allergic episodes in exchange for living with them. When we talk about the subject, he assumes it without giving it the slightest importance while he glances at Tirma who, by the way, is at her feet.
What do you remember about the first time you saw Tirma?
I told Dani: let's go to Talavera! and I gave him the surprise. She was tiny, tiny and, although at first Leo was jealous of her, she took over the house and made us all fall in love. They are both amazing, but this one is very special, she smiles at you when she sees you.
They are like night and day...
Yeah! Completely (laughs). Tirma is affectionate, while Leo is surly. With him you have to earn it; He is affectionate with whoever he wants, and Tirma is affectionate with everyone. Careful! With Leo you have to earn it, and you have to be careful, because he can bite you at first. Depending on how you approach it, it might think you are going to do something to it and attack you. On the other hand, with Tirma you can do whatever you want. They are like night and day.
But there are more differences. Tirma eats super well, while Leo eats super badly. Leo doesn't like going outside, Tirma loves it. That's why places that are 'pet friendly' are so important. Here I want to mention a great establishment that accepts animals, Leroy Merlin. When I tell Tirma that we are going there, she starts spinning around crazy with joy. Poor things, the dogs don't bother you. It is the owners who must be responsible.
What needs did Tirma's arrival cover?
Leo was the first. She reduced a lot of her possessiveness and made her realize that we are not hers. The act of sharing has relaxed her character and enhanced her kindness. The truth is that she puts a lot of effort into it. I remember that when she was five months old, she grabbed Leo by the tail and dragged him from one place to another in the house (she bursts out laughing).
Tirma has an incredible character. Everyone falls in love with her.
By the way... Why Tirma?
The concept is that of a Canarian chocolate bar, but the story comes from when they wanted to enslave the Guanches and they committed suicide by jumping off the mountain shouting “Atis, Tirma!” which means “Over the mountain!” So she is our warrior.
Tirma, Leo, Dángelo and you, how do you complement each other?
In many things, but the main one is that you realize what you mean to another living being. For example, if Dani is taking a shower, Leo is downstairs with him, inseparable. Of course, you realize what it means to have someone's unconditional love. That's very, very nice. Tirma is more independent. Now she is here with me, but she could be in the garden, on the couch... When she is sleepy, for example, she goes to bed. Now we can all be together in the room that says “My peace I leave you, my peace I give you, screw you, I'm leaving” (laughs). Then she leaves and falls asleep, while Leo waits in the living room until we all leave. It is precisely that difference between the two that is the ideal complement that makes us function as a perfect gear system.
One of the things Leo likes is running and being outside, although he gave you a major scare a while ago...
I think so. During the pandemic, a friend's dog came, the two dogs clashed and Leo fell on his back. We rushed him to the emergency room and it turned out that he had suffered some kind of stroke, something that only affects 2 or 3% of dogs worldwide. It's not exactly a stroke, but it's something similar. He had to do rehabilitation. He lost mobility in his back leg, he fell when he went to poop or pee. The truth is that his recovery was like a miracle and, although it is a bit difficult for him to climb steps, he runs and walks without problem. He gets a little more tired, but he does everything he has to do.
When they gave us the diagnosis, we were very scared. You think it's going to go away, but you're not going to let it. You don't have to think about the worst when these things happen because they can be overcome. Then Tirma also gave us a tremendous scare. She had an intestinal sprain. We had spent a lot of hours walking through the mountains in Murcia, and I don't know if she ate something that she must have found, but she started to get very sick. The fatal pass. In the midst of all this, imagine, you have concerts, recordings, commitments... Of course, those who don't have dogs frivolize a little about the subject, but it's incredible. It's like if a family member gets sick. As they say, I love my dogs more than many people in my family. It's like that.
Have they made you cry?
A lot, and with emotion too. Not just sadness. On the one hand, Leo has had all the illnesses in the world, like a stroke, swallowing a bone... Tirma only had the intestine thing, but he made me cry with emotion. When I am at home and I look at her, I see her so good and so generous that she is worth eating. I cry with emotion. It brings tears to my eyes just looking at her. I think it's the closest thing to looking at a son or daughter. It's like that moment when a dad, a mom, grandparents, or grandmothers look at their grandchildren and, simply with that, they are happy and excited. That happens to me.
There are four of you and two are of the same species... Do they ever form alliances to do tricks on you?
When they are together on the street, for example, it is chaos. I have told Dani several times that I will no longer be alone with the two of them. Plus, I get angry! Look, I can take Tirma anywhere, but not Leo. After two minutes, he doesn't want to walk, he sits in the middle of the street and I spend half the time trying to get him to walk. You already have me, “Come on, come on, come on,” giving him sweets but nothing. That he doesn't move. He looks at me as if to say “But why are you taking me out?” and then I get angry. I say I don't take it anymore, etc.
You are super well known, they approach you because of them or because of you.
Yes, we have been approached many times. I have an anecdote from the beginning of having Leo, and it is that when he was little the same thing happened to him when walking. We walked for a while and he told me: “Take me, I'm not walking anymore.” One of those days, I pick him up and a girl comes up to us and says: “Oh, what a pretty dog, I love it, how cute!” In short, looking at the dog, she looks at me and she says to me… “Damn, can I take a photo with you?!” I mean, the first one he looked at was Leo and then me... After cuddling with him for a few minutes he realized it was me and asked for the photo.
You have a life full of responsibilities and obligations... How do you do it to be able to be with Tirma and Leo?
First, I complement Dani very well, because when I leave, he stays and vice versa. When we both have to leave, we take them with us, doing all the flight procedures so that they can go with us in the cabin. This is another one, we are super unprotected on airlines with animals. You have a lot of obligations and very few rights. At times, I have paid more for the dog than for myself. It's not very fair either because I carry them, in a carrier, under the seat. I mean, since it's more expensive, at least let me use that seat because I'm paying in full. These things should change.
There are also people who, as soon as they see you with a dog, complain about whether they are allergic, or that the dog is annoying... Let's see, there are also children and adults who are annoying on flights. We can all be annoying depending on how you handle it. They also do not allow more than two or three dogs on the same flight to avoid confrontations, barking... but if you have five or six children crying on the flight, you have to put up with it, right? It's about having more empathy.
If it is impossible to take them, we leave them at home with someone like my neighbor Loli who comes and takes care of them. This is if we go away for a day or two. In 2016 we took a long trip to Cuba and a friend stayed at home with them for two weeks. They always stay with someone they trust. We always prefer that they stay at home.
Do they go to the studio with you?
Yes, many times!
Blas shows me his studio. It is a wonderful attic, with white walls, well decorated and full of instruments in which he has composed songs such as “He is not me”, “The good ends badly”, “Ceniza”, “Volver a baile”… In the In the center of that creative space, right in the center, is Tirma looking out of the corner of her eye... She knows perfectly well that this is all about her. Look at my black girl! says Blas...
Here we normally record demos and they come, knock on the door and, of course, we open the door. Once inside, they relax and we continue working. Then, if you have to record well, the dogs are not there. Either we do it here or somewhere else, but without them. But they have come to recording studios like Warner's many times and they don't bother anything. In the end it depends more on the “daddy” or the “mommy” than on the dog…
What have you done wrong in relation to them?
Well, look, with Leo I have made the mistake of overexposing him to human contact to the point that he now gets nervous and starts barking “Woof, woof, woof” at any form of human contact, be it a pet, a hug, or a hug. kiss. We did it terribly, because if someone tries to give us a hug, a kiss, or any sign of affection, he jumps on us. He frowns upon human contact.
On the other hand, we did the peeing thing very well, since Leo initially learned to do it in his diaper and then asked us to go outside. He would take his leash, give it to you and say “take me outside because I want to pee.” It was incredible, but then, when a friend's mother's dogs came to the house and one of them peed inside, it marked that day for Leo...
Even though many years have passed, we have not been able to reverse the situation. He always pees inside the house. Despite consulting with trainers, we have not been able to change this behavior. Plus, he's a bastard because he punishes you! For example, when I feed him, if I mix his food, he eats it, but if I don't have anything to mix, I make him a row of croquettes as if it were a game. I line up for his feeder so he can continue eating there later. However, when he gets to the feeder, he stops eating so I can get the kibbles and we can continue playing. “He's bad, he's a bastard!” (Laughs). It's a lot of fun, but sometimes it makes my existence miserable.
With Tirma, we learned from the mistakes of the first.
Do they have the same routines? How do you make sure, being so different, that they both get what they need?
First, because we give it to them at the same time, and second, because if someone doesn't want it at that moment, they ask for it later. We applied the teaching of removing the feeder if they do not want to eat, so that it is not visible all the time, with Leo. With Tirma, it doesn't matter because if he's hungry, he will eat, and if he's not hungry, he won't. She is a little more responsible with the things she needs. But Leo asks you. It's super strong because it's sitting on the couch and receiving a demand from Leo. What do you want? Eat? I tell him... If he spins around on himself, I know that's what he wants. The truth is that we have very good communication.
How have you changed compared to the time Tirma and Leo entered your life?
Personally, I was unaware of the world of dogs. Now, I am much more empathetic with them, I am more aware, I think I am more responsible and I have assumed a routine with them. In the end, having them is a great responsibility. It's not a game, and I believe that people who have a dog and take good care of it are responsible people. Because otherwise it is unsustainable. It is clear that there are people who abandon them and take bad care of them. To me, those are not good people. Generally, someone who has a dog and acts cool is a cool person. I think that, as a person, I am cool and Dani even more so, because he loves dogs madly.
What are you afraid of?
Well, normally, you are afraid of not being with them. I have never suffered the loss of a dog because Tirma and Leo are the first. Dani, for his part, has had many pets at home when he was a child and says that Tirma is the reincarnation of a dog he had when he was a child. He will be more prepared than me, but I know he will be tough, especially with Leo. If we don't leave first, it's going to be very bad because, as my mother-in-law says, more chickens die than roosters during the year. That means that many young people leave before the older ones. That's why I always say that if I don't leave first, I will have a very bad time with the loss of Leo and Tirma. But I don't want to think about it. Whenever that thought comes to me, I try to get it out of my head because I'm not going to live in tomorrow. I want to enjoy them in the now.
It is said that there is no two without three…
With a scared face, he says...
No no no! I don't care what they say... It's very difficult for us being two, imagine having three. Moving, traveling, everything is much more expensive. There are more problems booking places because there are two dogs. If I'm going to make a reservation on Airbnb, I always say that they accept pets and if they don't, I write to them and ask them for a favor. I recently wrote and told them that I was going with two dogs and they told me that they were going to charge me an extra fee.
Blas… Tell me a secret of yours.
One of the great secrets is that the love transmitted between humans and dogs is contagious. Those who have not had the opportunity to live with dogs, for whatever reasons, when they meet Tirma and Leo, they fall in love. I think it is because of the love we transmit to them. That's the open secret about Tirma and Leo.
We stayed a while longer talking about the extent to which we can get to know a person through their pets. How he cares for them, how he talks about them, the love he gives them, all those actions that are a reflection of the character and essence of a person. We also talked about the attics because they are our favorite place in the house, but well... That's another story.
