The breed Coton de Tuléar was introduced to France long before their official acknowledge in 1970.
This newcomer from Madagascar quickly became a companion dog in France. Today it is widespread all over the world.
The Coton was originally used on Madagascar as a "crocodile dog". When the cows needed to drink, the Cotons distracted the crocodiles in the river by jumping and barking at them.
The Coton is cheerful and merry and likes to play around, a smart dog; they learn quickly and understand well. It is inclined to become very attached to its owner. Eager, alert and intelligent, the Coton is "the big dog in a small package".
Coton is French for cotton and describes the coat that gives the breed its name. It’s soft fine and slightly wavy with a cottony texture.
The coat is always white, although a few yellow or grey patches, notably on the ears, are tolerated.
Weekly brushing keeps the coat free from mats.
Cotons are a choice for allergy sufferers.

Height:
Males 26-28cm
Females 23-25cm
tolerance of 2 cm above and 1 cm below.

Weight:
Males from 4kg to 6,5kg
Females from 3,5kg to 5kg

FCI Breed Standard

Federation Cynologique International
Standard of the Coton de Tulear
FCI-Standard N° 283 / 04.02.2000 / GB

Coton de Tuléar

TRANSLATION: Pamela Jeans-Brown, Renée Sporre-Willes, Raymond Triquet.

ORIGIN: Madagascar.

PATRONAGE: France.

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF THE ORIGINAL VALID STANDARD: 25.11.1999

UTILIZATION: Companion dog.

CLASSIFICATION FCI: Group 9 Companion and Toy Dogs.

Section 1.2. Coton de Tuléar.

Without working trial.

BRIEF HISTORICAL SUMMARY: Introduced to France long before its official recognition in 1970 this newcomer from Madagascar quickly acquired a prominent position amongst the companion dogs of this country; today it is widespread all over the world.

GENERAL APPEARANCE: Small, long-haired companion dog with a white cotton textured coat, with round, dark eyes and a lively, intelligent expression.

IMPORTANT PROPORTIONS:

The height at the withers in relationship to the length of the body is 2 to 3.
The length of the head in relationship to that of the body is 2 to 5.
The length of the skull in relationship to that of the muzzle is 9 to 5.

BEHAVIOUR/TEMPERMENT: Of a happy temperament, stable, very sociable with humans and with other dogs; it adapts perfectly to all ways of life. The temperament of the Coton de Tuléar is one of the main characteristics of the breed.

HEAD: Short, seen from above triangular.

CRANIAL REGION:

Skull: Seen from the front slightly rounded; rather wide in relation to its length. Superciliary arches only slightly developed. Slight frontal groove. Occipital protuberance and crest only slightly accentuated. Well developed zygomatic arches.

Stop: slight.

FACIAL REGION:

Nose: In the extension of the nasal bridge; black; brown is tolerated; nostrils wide open.

Muzzle: Straight.

Lips: Fine, tight, of the same colour as the nose.

Jaws/Teeth: Teeth well aligned. Scissor bite, pincer bite or inverted bite without losing contact. The absence of PM1s is not penalized; the M3s are not taken into consideration.

Cheeks: Lean.

Eyes: Rather rounded, dark, lively, wide apart; the rims of the eyelids are well pigmented with black or brown according to the color of the nose.

Ears: Pendulous, triangular, high set on the skull, fine at the tips; carried close to the cheeks, reaching the corners of the lips. Covered with white hairs or with some traces of light grey (mixture of white and black hairs giving a light grey appearance) or red-roan (mixture of white and fawn hairs giving a red-roan appearance - lemon).

NECK: Well muscled, slightly arched. Neck well set into shoulders.

Proportion of neck to body = 1/5. Clean neck with no dewlap.

BODY: Topline very slightly convex. Dog longer than high.

Withers: Only slightly pronounced.

Back and loin: Strong back, topline very slightly arched. Loin well muscled.

Croup: Oblique, short and muscled.

Chest: Well developed, well let down to elbow level, long. Ribs well sprung.

Belly: Tucked up but not excessively.

TAIL: Low set, in the axis of the spinal column. At rest: carried below the hock, the tip being raised. On the move: carried « gaily » curved over the back, with the point towards the nape, the withers, the back or the loin. In dogs with abundant coat, the tip may rest on the dorsal-lumbar region.

LIMBS

FOREQUARTERS: The frontlegs are upright.

Shoulder and upper arm: Oblique shoulder, muscled. Scapulo -humeral angle about 120°. The length of the upper arm corresponds approximatively to that of the shoulder blade.

Lower arm: Humero -radial angle: about 120°. Lower arms vertical and parallel, well muscled, with good bone. The length of the lower arm corresponds approximatively to that of the upper arm.

Carpus (Pastern joint): A continuation of the line of the lower arm.

Metacarpals (Pastern): Strong, seen in profile sloping very slightly.

Forefeet: Small, round, toes tight, arched ; pads pigmented.

HINDQUARTERS: The hindlegs are upright. Though dewclaws are not sought, their presence is not penalized.

Upper thigh: Strongly muscled; coxo -femoral angle about 80°.

Lower thigh: Oblique, forming with the femur an angle of about 120°.

Hock joint : dry, well defined, angle of the hock about 160°.

Metatarsals (Rear pasterns): vertical.

Hind feet: Similar to forefeet.

GAIT/MOVEMENT: Free and flowing, without covering a lot of ground; topline retained on the move. No sign of uneven movement.

SKIN: Fine, stretched tight over all the body; although of pink color, it can be pigmented.

COAT

HAIR: This is one of the main characteristics of the breed from which its very name derives. Very soft and supple, with the texture of cotton, never hard or rough, the coat is dense, profuse and can be very slightly wavy.

COLOUR: Ground colour : White. A few slight shadings of light grey colour (mixture of white and black hairs) or of red-roan (mixture of white and fawn hairs) are permitted on the ears. On other parts of the body, such shadings can be tolerated if they do not alter the general appearance of white coat. They are however not sought after.

SIZE AND WEIGHT:

Height at withers:

Males: 26-28 cm, tolerance of 2 cm above and 1 cm below.

Bitches: 23-25 cm, tolerance of 2 cm above and 1 cm below.

Weight

Males: From 4 kg to a maximum of 6 kg.

Bitches: From 3 ,5 kg to a maximum of 5 kg.

FAULTS: Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree.

SERIOUS FAULTS:

Skull : Flat or too domed, narrow.

Muzzle: Disproportion between skull and muzzle.

Eyes: Light, too almond shaped; entropion , ectropion , prominent eyes.

Ears: Too short, with insufficient length of hair; ears folding backwards (rose ear).

Neck: Too short, too stuffy in shoulders, too slender.

Topline : Too arched, sway backed.

Croup: Horizontal, narrow.

Shoulder: Straight.

Limbs: Turned inwards or outwards; out at elbows; hocks wide set or too close; straight angulations.

Coat: Too short, too wavy, curly.

Pigmentation: Partially lacking or too light pigmentation of eyelids or lips; discoulored nose, with unpigmented areas.

ELIMINATING FAULTS:

General type:

Lack of type (insufficient breed characteristics, which means that the animal on the whole does not sufficiently resemble other examples of the breed).

Size and weight outside the requirements and tolerance of the standard.

Particular points:

Foreface: Bridge of nose convex.

Eyes: Bulging, with signs of dwarfism; too light; wall eyes.

Ears: Pricked or semi-pricked.

Tail: Not reaching to hock; high set, completely curled (forming a tight ring); carried flat on the back or against the thighs; carried candle like; tailless.

Hair: Atypical, tightly curled, woolly, silky.

Colour : Heavily marked; any marking of a definite black.

Pigmentation: Total lack of pigment on eye rims, nose or lips.

Anomalies:

Overshot or undershot mouth with lack of contact between the incisors; vertical gaping of the incisors.

Absence of teeth other than the PM1s or the M3s.

Aggressive or extremely shy specimen.

N.B.: Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.