| 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 13 – 15 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. |
