| COTON de TULEAR HISTORY OF THIS RARE BREED |
| The Coton de Tulear originates from Madagascar, the world's fourth largest Island. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southeast of the coast of Africa. It's Capital is Tananarive. Tulear is a port city in the southwestern coast of Madagascar. The island was a favorite ground for sea pirates in the 1600 & 1700's. |
| According to the history or legend, the arrival of the Coton in Madagascar dates around the 15th Century. Ships sailed to the West Indies, around Africa's Cape of Good Hope, into the Mozambique Channel to the Indian Ocean. Sea Voyages were always long and boring and sailor's life was very bad. To offset their hardship and the loneliness to the ladies also travelling on these ships, little white dogs accompanied them, the same little dogs were also used to rid the ships of unwanted mice and rats which were consuming sailors and passenger's food. During a violent storm, a ship wrecked in the proximity of Madagascar. Noone knows the name of the ship or its flag but all the sailors perished in the Ocean. The fact of the matter is that some little white dogs swam ashore around the southwestern coast of the island. It is assumed that they are the ancestors of today's Bichon Frise. These dogs settled on the island, became wild again, met eventually with the local terriers. The Coton resulted from their relationship. These little dogs foraged for food to survive and learned to protect themselves cunningly against predators. They hunted the wild boar in packs. Another story tells us that the dogs wanted to cross a river infested with crocodiles. These reptiles, with wide open mouths, were patiently waiting for their feast!! Since swimming across was sheer suicide, our dogs needed a diversion to reach the opposite bank. And that is exactly what they did! They looked first for the narrowest passage, then ran to the widest part of the river, started barking so ferociously that the racket allured all the crocodiles to that spot. Slowly and clumsily the reptiles started climbing the bank, and our sly dogs sprinted back to the narrowest passage, jumped into the water and swam across! Later the natives fell in love with these little white dogs, domesticated and offered them to the King and Malagasy nobles. Because of their beauty and personality these dogs became the favorite of Kings and nobles and, for many years, only people with "royal blood" could own and raise them. At the turn of the century French colonialists also fell under the spell of these little dogs, bit by bit, upon their return to their native country, they raised the Cotons as pets. STANDARD/APPEARANCE The standard of the Coton de Tulear was established in 1969 and submitted to the Federation Cynologique Internationale (F.C.I. Group 9) in 1970 and it is since Feb 1971 that the breed has been recognized by the F.C.I. According to the F.C.I. Standard, the height of the male at the withers varies between 25 to 32 cm (ideal is 28cm), the height of the female at the withers varies between 22 - 28 cm (ideal 25cm). The male weighs between 4 - 6 kg and the female weighs between 3.5 - 5 kgs. The ratio of the height (at the withers to the length is 2:3). The Coton is a small, sweet, “cottony” long-haired dog. Hair can be clipped – that is what we do! Our groomers love the Cotons. They say you can do anything and they are so laid back. The nose is black, lips are thin, rimmed with black. The Eyes are big, dark brown, round, well spaced rimmed with black and show a lively and intelligent expression. The ears are dropped, thin, triangular and covered with long hair. The body is proportionately twice as long as the height with a curved topline which differentiates them from the Bichon. Puppies are born either all white or with spots, mainly around the head and the ears, but sometimes also the body. These spots:yellow, brown, rust or black, disappear while growing and occasionally leave behind a faint champagne coloring. Hair is short as a puppy but reaches approximately 4”s or so in adulthood, soft and fluffy to the touch, non-oily, and light as the cotton flower. The Coton’s hair is non-allergenic and they are non shedding so they are a good choice for people that have sensitivities or allergies. Tempermant The Coton is an anti-stress dog! This is so very true. They expect love, FOOD (Coton’ s love their food!!!!!), companionship and protection. They will NEVER tire of attention. If you pet, carry, HUG (they LOVE hugs), and talk to them you will see the results. He will shower you with kisses since he is so affectionate and being a good listener, will cock his head to the side while you talk to him!! Coton’s are LIVELY, playful, and are real clowns, they put a smile on your face. Coton’s are sometimes taken as vistors to seniors homes and they love it saying nothing about the smiles they put on the seniors faces. They love to follow you and see what you are up to. His voice is so unique. It is not a bark – more like a chirp. When we first heard the voice we thought their was a bird in the house!! Coton’s get along will with other dogs – big or small, a wonderful traveler, smart so are easy to train & housebreak. This little dog is amazingly athetic. Their average life span is 16 yrs. Even though they love the outside – rain, snow, they are an inside dog. This little dog is keen and alert, even though they love to sleep they are awake in a millisecond if a strange noise happens and they alert you something is happening. They make wonderful watch dogs without the noise!!!!! We wondered how our “little whites” would be with children and so took them on an 8 hr drive to a camp with about 35 – 40 people, aging from baby to 66. Our little dogs got right into there befriended everyone as well as the other 4 dogs of all sizes and were carted around by 4 yr olds and never made an attempt to growl or snap. They do love the attention. That being said these little girls didn’t mistreat them. They were very careful. The Coton is a People dog. He loves people and will most often leave other animals to be with you. It is important they get a lot of attention and support. What they give in return is absolute joy and companionship. Their Health When we first got into the breed we were told non by any one we talked to or sites we check out That being said we still made sure to have our Cotons health screened & made sure any one getting into breeding with one of our pups have theirs screened as well. No breed is ever 100% with out health issues. Some just rarer. A responsible breed will make sure that parents of their breeding dogs has been screened as well as their breeding dogs. In last few years this is what is now said about Coton Health issues: The Coton du Tulear breed is healthy, vigorous, and long-lived with an average life expectancy of about 16 years. According to the Coton de Tulear Club of America, the North American population of Cotons have no known genetic defects. However, there have been recent cases of some disorders which have yet to be determined whether they are of a hereditary nature in the Coton breed. So far rare occurrences here in Canada. |
| Our COTON de TULEAR's HISTORY |
| Our first litter was born in Dec of 2003, from our first breeding female Mocha DE La Filature Du Coton "a.k.a Mlle" Sired by our male Bunny Of Blue Moon Cottage "a.k.a Happy" They had three beautiful puppies 1 female and 2 males. Their puppies went to wonderful homes. We are so pleased as the first born from our first litter has his official Fraser Valley Health Volunteer Tag. The second born went to a family starting out their breeding program. The third went to wonderful lady out in MB. We still years later get yearly up dates on these three wonderful puppies that have given each of their families joy. We decided to get second female, Blanche Of Blue Moon Cottage "a.k.a Tesa" She was bred to Happy for a litter of puppies few months after getting her. She had 2 males and 2 females that summer. Tesa was so much fun to watch with her litter, as she so enjoys having puppies. She plays with them so much. Well again we found 4 wonderful families for her litter. Hers went to ON, AB, & two stayed in BC. We also get up dates now and then from families. Now it is 5 years after our first litter, many litters later. We get regular up dates from our puppies families. Many of them are growing up with young family members, Some enjoy summer time at the beach, in the water or boating. Many go to work with their owners. And a few have become mothers them selves. We are pleased to say all feed back on our puppies is positive, as you can see from write ups on Gallery pages. Puppies are all healthy and doing wonderfully in their homes. Our Cotons continue to bring us joy. We love to take them with us when camping and they love to go for car or truck rides. Each one is so very different in what they like best. Mlle who is retired now enjoys helping me feed the horses "She stays on other side of fence." and loves to hang around well working in the yard. She still runs around like a white blur when she is excited and having fun. She also will stand on her back legs saying pick me up pick me up. She is just so cute and fun. Happy is our cuddle boy. He enjoys to snuggle on your lap and most of the time on his back. When out side he enjoys walking to end of our road way or to barn. Also loves to roll around in dirt. He loves coming with us the most in the car or truck. Does not matter where your going he just wants to be there. When your up set he will come for a snuggle and it makes you feel so much better. Sadly Happy past away fall 2008. We miss him so much. We always planned to keep one of his son for our breeding program but that has not come to pass. We hope to get one of his granddaughters in 2009. Tesa is our clown. She is just so funny!!! Loves to run through puddles after a good rain storm or spring melt. Her hair on her head is wildest of all our Cotons which bounces all over the place when she gets moving at fast walk or her run. She also smiles a lot. Bob has joined our house hold fall 2008. Plan to have litter sired by him spring 2009. Like Tesa, he is a clown. He is active and playful. Beautiful fluffy white coat. He smiles a lot. |
| Happy |
Mlle & Tille
Tesa
BOB