Coton de Tulear

Playful clown that likes to stay close to its people.
A Coton de Tulear
Photo: CamilleVila
Adult male
4–6 kg
8.8–13 lb
Adult female
3.5–5 kg
7.7–11 lb
Lifespan
14.2 yrs
Handler demand
Suits a first-time owner
Class · Companion
also Family, Lap dog

What it's like

Cotons are lively, playful and affectionate, like to stay close to their people, and are usually friendly towards strangers and other animals. They have a reputation for clowning. Madagascar reportedly featured the breed on a postage stamp in the nineteen-seventies.

Day to day
Activity
Happy with modest walks
Intelligence
Learns readily, likes games
Handler demand
Suits a first-time owner
With people
Affection
A lap or leaning dog
Loyalty
Sticks close to its people
Independence
Keen to work with you
Around the home
Sensitivity
Average
Voice
Barks to alert, then settles
Prey drive
Usually fine with small pets
Breed explains only about 9% of how individual dogs differ in behaviour1. Meet the dog. A good breeder breeds for temperament as well as health, and matches each puppy's personality to the right home2,3.
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Living with one

It needs a modest amount of exercise compared with other breeds.

Size and growth

A Coton de Tulear is a toy dog, heavier than a Chihuahua and lighter than a Yorkshire Terrier. Males end up clearly heavier than females. It is one of the heaviest toy breeds.

It is a small, sturdy dog, a little longer than it is tall, with a rounded skull, dark round eyes, high-set drooping ears and a tail carried curved over the back when moving. Its defining feature is the coat: long, dense and soft, with the dry, fluffy feel of cotton rather than the silkiness of a Maltese. The coat is white, though light grey or pale lemon shading on the ears is allowed, and puppies may have darker patches that fade as they grow.

Puppy growth

Reference curve · community data appears as owners log
By about 3 months, a male Coton de Tulear puppy is already as heavy as a grown Chihuahua. They grow fastest between 3 and 4 months old.
Fully grown
10 mo
Both sexes, at 99% of adult weight6
Male
Female
Shaded: expected range
02462m4m6m9m12m18m
02462m3m4m6m9m12m18m
Age
Male
Female
2 months
1.3–1.9 kg 2.9–4.2 lb
1.2–1.8 kg 2.6–4.0 lb
3 months
1.6–2.4 kg 3.5–5.3 lb
1.5–2.2 kg 3.3–4.9 lb
4 months
2.1–3.2 kg 4.6–7.1 lb
1.9–2.8 kg 4.2–6.2 lb
5 months
2.5–3.8 kg 5.5–8.4 lb
2.2–3.2 kg 4.9–7.1 lb
6 months
2.8–4.2 kg 6.2–9.3 lb
2.5–3.5 kg 5.5–7.7 lb
7 months
3.1–4.6 kg 6.8–10.1 lb
2.6–3.8 kg 5.7–8.4 lb
8 months
3.2–4.9 kg 7.1–10.8 lb
2.8–4.0 kg 6.2–8.8 lb
9 months
3.4–5.1 kg 7.5–11.2 lb
2.9–4.1 kg 6.4–9.0 lb
10 months
3.5–5.2 kg 7.7–11.5 lb
3.0–4.3 kg 6.6–9.5 lb
11 months
3.6–5.3 kg 7.9–11.7 lb
3.1–4.4 kg 6.8–9.7 lb
12 months
3.6–5.4 kg 7.9–11.9 lb
3.1–4.5 kg 6.8–9.9 lb
15 months
3.8–5.7 kg 8.4–12.6 lb
3.3–4.7 kg 7.3–10.4 lb
18 months
4.0–5.9 kg 8.8–13.0 lb
3.4–4.9 kg 7.5–10.8 lb

Lifespan

In UK vet records, the typical Coton de Tulear lived to about 14 years, longer than the typical toy breed. Too few had died yet to pin the figure down, so it may turn out higher.

Where it comes from

The Coton de Tulear is named after the Madagascan port of Tulear; on the island it was the lapdog of the nobility, who barred commoners by law from owning one. French tourists took it up in the 1960s, it caught on quickly in France, and the FCI dates its official recognition to 1970. A story that its ancestors swam ashore from a shipwreck may or may not be true4,8.

The Coton de Tulear belongs to the Bichon family of small white companion dogs, alongside the Bichon Frise, Maltese and Bolognese, and its ancestors probably reached Madagascar by sea. Its name means 'cotton of Tulear', after its coat and a Madagascan port. Brought to France in the twentieth century, the breed spread through Europe and to North America, and the Kennel Club places it among the toy breeds. It has been kept mainly as a companion and remains one.

Breed standard

The Coton de Tulear is judged against standard no. 283, in group 9, Companion and Toy Dogs4.

Questions people ask

General guidance for dogs rather than a measured Coton de Tulear figure: most females have a first season somewhere between six and fifteen months, and cycles then settle to roughly every 180 days. Smaller breeds tend to start earlier and larger ones later, so a toy breed is most likely at the early end.

Compare with related

Maltese
Companion & toy · Toy
Bichon Frise
Companion & toy · Small
West Highland White Terrier
Terriers · Small
Havanese
Companion & toy · Toy
Or compare the Coton de Tulear with any breed you choose
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Sources

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Parts of this page were written by AI ·