El Tumi kennel is a real institution in Argentina. Since 1973, Luis Milla De La Cruz has been passionately breeding Dogo Argentinos in Rio Cuarto, in the region of Cordoba. This breeder helped to the promotion of this young breed on the five continents.
El Tumi is not simply an excellent Peruvian restaurant located in the heart of Amsterdam. El Tumi is probably the most famous Dogo Argentinos kennel in the world. As for the name of its creator, it is Luis Milla De La Cruz. This fancier, who’s living near Cordoba, can positively claim that his Dogos “are the best in the world, and the result of a professional work of genetic selection.” Luis is almost aged 55, and the breed has been part of his life for almost 30 years. His devotion is exemplary, and his love for the “best canine breed in the world” is the same as it was on the first day. Here’s the story of a man, who devotes a real cult to the selection of the Dogo.
Luis, nicknamed “Lucho”, is a living legend for all the people interested in the Dogo Argentinos. Nowadays, a whole new generation of breeders have taken back the job, and carry high the colours of the Argentinean selection: De Dos Santos, De El Forasterô, Del Seguinpa, De la Argentina, Gualilan, which owns Ch Bonbon De Los Medanos, Del Entrevero, De Cabana Sarasua, De La Bayanca, De la Herencia, De Los Campos Largos, Del Africa, De Jauria Brava, with Estribo, World Champion 2001, De Bravoure Blanche, De Antares, Audacity, with the star Alef, Ackon Cahuac.
As shown in the map of Argentina below, the original region of the Dogo Argentino is set in the North West of Buenos Aires, in the province of Cordoba. However, the kennel of the creator of the breed, “Del Chubut”, was located in the South, in the province of Esquel, near Patagonia.
Luis is living with 40 dogs in his house in Rio Cuarto. He always underlined that for him, selection meant above all “a visible improvement at each generation. A Dogo Argentino must be better than its parents, otherwise it’s not selection, it’s just production.” Luis made his débuts in 1973. at that time, the Dogo Argentino was still completely unknown outside of its native country. His first reproducers were issued from the best lines from Cordoba (Taco Del Totoral, Esquel Del Chubut, etc.)
His first Dogo, the dog Tumi de la Cortadera – which died young accidentally – was at the origin of the name of his kennel, El Tumi. Many other dogs followed Tumi de la Cortadera. Most particularly the bitch Candida Del Lauquen (Atila de la Fortaleza x Huera), born in 1976, and which gave very significant descendents in Luis’s selection, by being mated with different studs such as Catriel de la Cortadera, Bucare de Merlo, which was a great son of Toro II Del Totoral, etc. In the ascendancy of this bitch, the great tenors such as Del Totoral and de La Fortaleza were present very often.
At that time, two kennels largely dominated the Argentinean selection. Picture of a typical dog from this period. They were the Del Chubut kennel, which produced Maleva, and the De Trevelin Kennel, whose stud Day was also unavoidable. The pioneers from modern breeding started with dogs from the Del Chubut selection, named after the place where the first Dogos were born. The first Dogo registered at the Federacion Canina Argentina, came from the Mayocco Del Chubut kennel. This kennel was created by Augustin Nores Martin, who is considered as the father of the Dogo. From 1954 and 1978, the year of his death, he produced and registered 1.031 Dogo puppies, which were for the greatest majority of them, at the origin of contemporary breeding. He lived in Esquel (Cordoba), in a place called “El Nido De Condores”. Let’s point out that the Dogo is quite a recent breed, as it was recognised by the Argentinean Kennel Club only in 1964, thus rewarding the work of the Nores Martin family.
For instance, Veterinary Doctor Victor Valino began in 1967 by acquiring his first two dogs from his kennel, Dogo and Ushuta del Chubut. This couple was at the origin of his own kennel, called De Valino. Unfortunately, this breeder died recently, but he left behind him an impressive literary work on the breed. He’s the most prolific writer on the breed. One of his most famous book is Todo Acerca Del Dogo Argentino, was sold throughout the whole world, notably thanks to its English version. On the cover of the book, Dr Valino had decided to integrate all the breeds, which had been used to create the Dogo Argentino: the Boxer, Dogue de Bordeaux, Great Dane, Bull Terrier, etc. And the Argentinean flag.
1995 was a remarkable year for Luis, and for the breed in France. Indeed, Luis came to France to show one of his best dogs at Longchamp French Championship Show, the dog : Huaino De El Tumi (Mole De El Tumi x Nacha de los Medanos, a daughter of Mara Blanca De El Tumi), here in picture. This dog not only on his class, but also the Best Of Breed and later on the Best Of Group 2. this was the first time in the history of the French and Argentinean dog fancy, that a Dogo made it to the Best of Group. This victory received a great coverage from the media, and a TV channel even made an interview of Luis Milla de la Cruz. He declared that “ this victory is a tribute to Dr Antonio Nores Martinez, and to my mentor, Dr Ruben Passet Lastra.”And this was only the beginning for Huaino. Indeed, two years later, at the 1993 World Dog Show in Brussels, he became World Champion in front of the international elite, and putting his owner in the spotlights. The demand for the breed started to boom at around the same time. Still on the old continent, but this time in the East, for the 1996 World Dog Show in Budapest, where Lucho’s supremacy was confirmed: indeed, almost 40 dogs from his affix were at the show.
Despite the excellent results of his dogs in shows, Luis never forgot the fact that the Dogo was above all created in Argentina for a precise and codified use: pack hunting. In this country, the “Pruebas de Campo” enter the selection criteria. It consists in putting the Dogo with a Puma or wild pig, called jabali, so as to measure its instinct. In picture, Luis showing one of his dogs, Cachaco De El Tumi. “The hunting instinct is present from a very young age in the Dogos from my kennel. They make a clear distinction between domestic animals, towards which they show absolutely no aggressiveness, and the wild animals, which they will hunt.”
The power and elegance of the lines are clearly seen on those two head studies: on the left, the dog Colca De El Tumi, nicknamed Rondo, a son of Huanoi and Huaica, 67 cm at the withers for a weight of 45 kilos, exported to Germany at Johnny Zyta (j.zyta@whelpen.de), and on the right the head of another dog, Huambo De El Tumi.
Tens of breeders from the 5 continents have imported or used dogs from Luis’ kennel to improve their own selection. In Italy, the bitch Amauta De El Tumi left descendents in the De Saguadero and De Seato kennels, with the Champion Alogilac. In France, the bitch Ocllo De El Tumi (Des Gauchos de Louvaux Kennel); in Denmark, the bitch India De El Tumi; in the Netherlands (Gladiator Del Pampa kennel), with a star, multi-champion Tacora De El Tumi (Atahualpa De El Tumi x Ch India De El Tumi), which was a winner in more than 140 shows. This is a record for the breed! Let’s point out that Tacora had the same parents as the stud Mole De El Tumi.
Other Dutch kennels worked with De El Tumi’s dogs: Del Grande Casador Branco with Huambo and Ocari De El Tumi, Del Blanco Verdugo with Humay and Ayar De El Tumi (here in picture), in Italy with the bitch Amauta De El Tumi, the mother of many champions, among which is the dog Gaucho de Indios (BoB for the 6th Raduno Nazionale del Dogo Argentino). Still in Italy, (a pioneer country in the European selection), let’s name the bitch Huarmi De El Tumi (Mole de El Tumi x Yaci II De El Tumi), given to Rossella Petrelli (Della Mezzaluna kennel), and which was the Top Dogo of the Italian Breed Club in 1994.
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