History of & Origin of
The Coton de Tulear
The stunning, intelligent, elegent, healthy companion canine homeland is Madagascar.
Madagascar was occupied by the French from 1620-1896. The French annexed Madagascar in 1896.
Prospering economically under French rule. Railways are introduced, roads are improved, new crops are cultivated (including coffee and tobacco) to supplement the existing exports of rice and cassava. Soon three quarters of Madagascar’s external trade is with France.
In 1653 Etienne de Flacourt, geographer and governor of Fort Dauphin, Madagascar, wrote: “There are quantities of small dogs, have long muzzles and short legs – similar to foxes. A few of them are white. They are engendered by dogs originating from France and have remained. They have short ears.”
Rumors abound that the Coton de Tulear may have suffered slaughter during the years of French colonization in 1895 while the French invested profoundly on the island of Madagascar. France in WWII and civil war (1947-1948) — in retaliation and to prevent the French from owning the dogs that were bred and held by Madagascar’s highest of nobility, the Merina, yet nothing in writing validates that claim. The instant boom of independence (1960), tourism, and the use of the breed as a commodity for barter also raised speculation of the Coton’s endangerment. The scarcity of finding excellent examples of the breed at the time that the FCI granted purebred status (1970) might have been one tip-off to its validity. Exporting of the Coton de Tulear was curtailed in 1992 by the country of Madagascar, any exports after 1992 were illegal.
In 1966, Mr. Louis Petit formed the Société Canine de Madagascar, better known as the Malagasy Kennel Club. On May 15, 1968, the Coton de Tulear was pronounced the official breed of Madagascar and officially registered with the club. Monsieur Petit, along with Raymonde Triquet and André LeBlonde, met on the island to study the breed and write the description of the ideal Coton for the Fédéracion Cynologique Internationale. After much searching, it was agreed that one Coton, whose name is unknown, was the best example and from whose type, temperament, and characteristics taken for the first standard.
Please note this is recorded history. The Coton was not discovered by an American going to the island in 1974, which is horrifically false. This American supposedly took Coton de Tulear without any history of the ancestry or pedigree from the island of Madagascar to the USA for the first time. Coton’s came to the USA for years before this incident in the mid 1970’s via Europe. Don’t be fooled; this breed has a long history, mentioned in journals in the 1500 and 1600s.
COTON DE TULEAR
Pronounced ( Co tohn deh too lay are )
The Coton de Tulear is NOT a designer breed. They are breed standing alone. Coton’s are playful, highly intelligent, outgoing, and loyal to their family, easy to train contrary to much that you find on the internet. They are silly at times, loving to entertain and comical. The breed makes excellent companions and pet therapy dogs.
- Intelligent
- True companion qualities
- Easy to train
- Possess great sensibility
- Exceptional with novice owners, seniors, apartment living, no demands for long walks and excessive exercise
- Very low to no shedding, they have hair, not fur and only one coat, not two as most American breeders state and contrary to most breeders reporting the breed having a double coat — they DO NOT have a double coat
- Not predisposed to wanting to run away from the owner, NO terrier or Spaniel behaviors
- The Coton de Tulear possess a passion for pleasing — but not hyper
- Comical personality
The Coton de Tulear always wants to please, love people of all ages, are very good with children and other animals. And they are very alert.
Coton’s are highly adaptable and can live in almost any home environment.
Coton’s are a breed standing alone and accepted by the FCI [ kennel club www.fci.be ] in Europe in 1970, long before known in the USA.
We do not register with the AKC as the club only recently accepted the breed in the summer of 2013.
I am waiting to see what the breed will look like in a few years. As of early 2023, you can find many so called “Coton’s” with solid coat colors of black, solid brown, solid tan, black and white that are covered with ticking. It is depressing, but often I have calls asking for a black, chocolate, brindle Coton. And I tell the inquirer that we have the “true Coton” not the designer breed originating in the USA.
History is limited when it pertains to this beautiful breed, stories of Coton’s reaching the island of Madagascar, and arriving on the shores from shipwrecks. Then there are notes in history where the breed developed on the island of Madagascar mating with Bichon Frise and Maltese over many years. One thing is precisely the breed is different in their coat texture, which cannot be compared to any other breed.
The hair of the Coton de Tulear is soft like cotton and possesses a feeling owned by the Coton de Tulear. The hair is one coat, not a double layer as most information is presented on the internet and by some breeders. The hair does not need to be cut monthly, like the Bichon and Maltese. Our adult Coton’s have not had a haircut, and their hair never drags the ground/floor.
The Europeans have been involved with the Coton de Tulear since the 1950s; the Coton is known as the “anti-stress dog” in Europe.
During the 1960s, the Societe Canine de Madagascar sought breed recognition of the Coton de Tulear from the FCI. In 1970 the breed was accepted as a distinct breed on the island of Madagascar with the distinction of the first original breed standard. The name of the club was the Malagasy Kennel Club of the island of Madagascar.
Coton’s touched the lives of Europeans, and importing was a massive undertaking in the 1960s through the 1970s and very limited. The Madagascar government stopped the exporting of the breed is 1992 to Europe or America because of the limited population of Coton’s in Madagascar. So, it is crucial when dealing with a breeder to make sure they are not mating and creating puppies from relatives, this type of breeding only opens the door for health issues at birth or in the young lives of a puppy—even worse breeding the Coton with other breeds that are related to the Coton de Tulear, which is very common in the United States.
We were fortunate to meet a lady in the Las Vegas airport back in 1999. Mrs. Jacques born and raised in Paris, France. She told us that when she was a child, she visited the island of Madagascar with her parents, and she fell in love with the local dog that was at that time only allowed to be owned by nobility. Her father was in Madagascar on a business trip for several weeks. She vowed to return someday and take home with her one of the friendly dogs. This occurred in the 1940s, today Mrs. Jacques lives in a small town in Nevada, near Las Vegas and has four beautiful Coton’s that are her the light of her life and her daily companions.
Coton’s also make excellent therapy dogs and always have a crowd gather around them when in public, learn about the breed; they are a showstopper — to say the least.
The FCI guidelines/confirmation for show and breeding Coton de Tulear can be found on the official web site of the FCI at www.fci. Be The Coton de Tulear is listed under the “companion” dog division; from that location, you can click the button for “EN,” and that will take you to a file written in English.
Sad to say, the Coton de Tulear is going many different directions, changes in their height, color, and overall appearance, I do not agree with these changes in the breed. Changes are made by mating a pure-blooded Coton de Tulear with other breeds; there are many mixes today that are presented as Coton’s, but believe me, they are not Coton’s. We have seen Coton’s that are guaranteed to be under 6 pounds as adults, Coton’s that have solid coats of black or solid coats of brown. Then we have witnessed Coton’s that stand as tall as a Lab — they are very unusual looking, to say the least. It is upsetting to see people changing the breed that is already perfect.
The very best with your research of this unique, intelligent, and loving breed — they are special and one-of-a-kind breeds – for sure! There are dogs, and then there is the Coton de Tulear!
480.432.2326
