ATTRIBUTES OF THE COTON DE TULEAR

Otherwise known as 'The Royal Dog of Madagascar' - The 'Anti-Stress' dog of the 21st Century. They have the most endearing personalities and lend themselves to play the role as the 'professional pet'. They are loyal and devoted to their owners - the perfect companion! So inevitably they make excellent family pets and because of this are extremely good around children and other family pets. They have a very happy and affectionate disposition, 'laid back' and 'easy going' and very responsive to training. The Coton de Tulear is very intelligent and quite a clown and will 'play to the crowd' if given the opportunity because it is a natural exhibitionist. When happy it has an unusual characteristic of 'grunting' and a comical ability to 'smile'.

The Coton de Tulear earned its name from its' unique fluffy cotton-like hair. The hair is long, dry to the feel and very soft to the touch, oil and dander free and has no doggy-odour. There is no shedding and seldom affects people with allergies, however the Coton is single coated and regular bushing is necessary. The coat should maintain its natural wind-tossed look. A trimmed coat is fine for low maintenance of older dogs or pets but never for a showdog. The majority of Coton de Tulear are predominantly white and some have coloured markings, the Coton has a very special quality that when puppies are born with quite heavily coloured markings, these usually fade with maturity, quite often to white, but in most cases definitely to a paler shade - i.e. black usually turns to grey and brindle/brown usually fades to cream.
The average lifespan of the Coton de Tulear could span up to 15 - 16 years.
They are adaptable and are as happy to live with you in an apartment as they are to live in the country and accept living in a hot or cold climate equally.
They do not like isolation and therefore would not thrive in a kennel situation. They require minimal exercise although most Cotons that I know love to run and will accompany you for miles.
The Coton matures at between 18 months and two years of age. The average height of a male will be around 28 cms and weigh 4-6 kg, the average height of a female wil be around 25 cms and weigh 3.5-5 kg.

IN THE BEGINNING

The Coton de Tulear is a very old breed originating on the Island of Madagascar which lies in the Indian Ocean, southeast off the coast of Africa. 'Tulear' is a port city on the southwestern coast of Madagascar.
The Coton de Tulear can be traced back to the 14th century. It is said that this little white dog survived a shipwreck off Madagascar, all the sailors perished but these dogs (the Tenerife/Bichon type, now extinct, and later known as the Coton de Reunion) made it to shore around the southwest coast of the island, became wild and bred with the local terriers. The Coton de Tulear resulted from this relationship.
The natives fell in love with these little white dogs and offered them to the king and Malagasy nobles. Malagasy society was divided into nobles and free men. Coton ownership was restricted to the nobility. A law was enacted making it a criminal offence for anyone other than nobles to own the breed, anyone else found possessing one could be sentenced to death. Even today there is a law restricting the ownership of a Coton to anyone other than the very wealthy in Madagascar. It quickly became known as 'The Royal Dog of Madagascar'. The Coton is the 'official dog of Madagascar' and has been honoured on a postage stamp.

The first Coton de Tulears were originally imported to the United Kingdom from Madagascar by Tony Sherer and his Malagasy (pronounced Malagash) wife Aina in 1984, they were called Lola and Milou. Tony lived and worked in Antananarivo for two and a half years and whilst he was there he met and married his wife and eventually came back to England with their children and the Cotons.

The next Cotons were imported from Belgium in 1990 by Mrs. Grant living in Scotland, they were called Malagashy of Woodland Cottage and Misty of Woodland Cottage, these dogs were bred from but the whereabouts of the progeny are unknown (if anyone can trace these Cotons we would love to hear from you for our archives).

Then in 1997 I imported the next 3 Cotons also from Belgium, Vincente, Vayadios and Valencia, it was this important milestone that kept the Coton de Tulear breed registered on the Import Register with the Kennel Club.