history
The Coton de Tulear, despite its French name, is an African breed. Coton de Tulear translates to “Cotton of Toliara”: cotton being a nod to the peculiar texture of the breed’s coat, and Toliara, a port city in southern Madagascar to which the origin of the breed is attributed. The French name for Toliara was Tulear, but when Madagascar claimed independence from France’s rule in 1960, Madagascar began to utilize the Malagasy language to rename, and reclaim, aspects of their country.
Toliara is a hot, windy coastal city near the Tropic of Capricorn and the Great Reef. Temperatures average close to 80 degrees annually, with the hot season bringing temperatures in excess of 90 degrees. As Toliara is on a plain, strong winds constantly sweep over it, locally known as the tsio katimo (the “South Wind.”) It is also quite arid and dry. Historically, Toliara served as many things: a stopover for European sailors headed to the East Indies, a notorious epicenter for pirates, and tragically, a slave trade hub, where slaves were exported to the islands of Mauritius and Reunion.
​It is within this geopolitical climate that the heritage of the Coton de Tulear can be traced. Small dogs were often brought aboard ships in the 16th century to serve both as ratters and companions. As sailors voyaged across the world, so, too, did their little dogs which in turn became part of the local fauna. Several breeds have origins attributed to this kind of diaspora, including Havanese, Bichons, and the Bolognese. In fact, all of these breeds have a shared ancestor—the Bichon Tenerife. The Bichon Tenerife, now extinct, was a breed of dog that lived 500 years ago. It resided on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands, and from this breed, the Bichon dog family was derived. The hallmark of this canine family were small, white dogs with long, curled tails and a wavy or curly coat. These dogs often became a status symbol wherever they were brought—for Havanese, they were given to wealthy Cubans; Bolognese were a favorite of the Italian noblility and wealthy, and Cotons were no different—they were, for a period of time, solely permitted to be owned by Malagasy royalty and also given as gifts to French elite. The Coton had another ancestor called the Coton de Reunion which goes back to the previous mention of the island of Reunion being a great importer of slaves. It’s important to recognize the French’s colonization of Reunion, the disparity of wealth, slaves and wealthy slaveowners—all of these factors cannot be ignored as conditions that propelled the Coton as a coveted status symbol of the rich elite.​
Cotons exploded in popularity in the 1960s in France. The Coton de Tulear was officially recognized by FCI (Federation Cynologique Internationale—the largest dog registry in the European Union) in 1970. Meanwhile, an American researcher named Dr. Jay Russell began to export Cotons back to the US in 1974. Unfortunately, when a living creature becomes that popular, there are consequences. Supply could not be met in both France and the US. French and American kennels (Russell’s Oakshade kennel was the only US source of Cotons until the late 1980s), exported thousands of Cotons from their home country of Madagascar. Cotons fetched a grand price, and much of the Malagasy population was poor—the cost of a Coton could be the average salary for a Malagasy family for 2 years. The black market for these dogs exploded. The Malagasy government put in provisions that limited export of the dogs out of Madagascar in the late 1980s, but too much damage had already been done. The population of Cotons de Tulear in their home country was, by and large, decimated.​
Cotons started gathering a larger following in the US within the 1990s. Breeders came from diverse backgrounds and with many, many opinions about the little white dog. There was, and is, much infighting about what constitutes an actual Coton. Some Coton breeders argued that Malagasy Cotons from Russell’s program were the only “true” Cotons, arguing that the French pedigreed Cotons had likely been bred with other dog breeds to refine their color to be more white as well as to increase profuseness of coat. Other Coton breeders argued that French breeders had already spent decades refining the breed type of the Coton before Russell had even obtained his first Coton and therefore, had a much longer documented history of pedigrees, and therefore, consistency and reliability of breed traits. During the export mania period of the 70s, many dogs of dubious origin were exported as ‘Cotons’ to make a quick buck, further muddying the clarity of what constitutes a purebred Coton.​
Ultimately, these disagreements led to a great schism in the breeders in the United States, with some vehemently opposing obtaining AKC recognition for the breed. A group of Coton breeders forged ahead anyway with seeking AKC recognition, viewing it as a necessary step to provide a structured platform for the ethical breeding of Cotons in the US. In order to maintain the very essence of the breed, the first part is that the breed needs to conform to a written standard. Think of a breed standard like the blueprint that’s used to build a house. That’s the very first step. But there is a second step--who is ensuring that the dog is meeting that standard? In other words, who is making sure that the house is ‘up to code’? AKC has set precedent for this through the sport of conformation, which entails dogs being judged against that written standard. Dogs that are deemed to meet the standard by various judges are awarded the title of conformation champion. Conformation judging helps breeders to evaluate their breeding stock with an unbiased lens; it’s easy to overlook flaws when you’ve poured your heart and soul into something. Conformation judging helps to keep breeders realistic, educated, and grounded.
However, getting accepted as a breed into AKC is a long, difficult, and expensive affair. First, the breed had to enter AKC’s Foundation Stock Service (FSS.) The breed needed to be recognized by a legitimate domestic or foreign registry (in this case, there was FCI) and needed to have a documented history of pedigrees going back at least 40 years. The Coton then transitioned from FSS to the Miscellaneous class. To move into Miscellaneous, a breed must have 150 dogs within three-generation pedigrees in its studbook as well as a viable breed standard. To then get out of the Miscellaneous class to be recognized as a true AKC breed, a breed needs a parent breed club with active members and at least 10 dogs owned by members with Certificate of Merit titles, amongst other criteria. These CM titles are earned by showing the dog in the Miscellaneous class in AKC conformation shows. It is quite arduous and expensive to obtain a CM. After tireless efforts over years with a great deal of work by dedicated breeders, owners, and exhibitors, the Coton de Tulear was recognized as AKC’s 179th breed in 2014 and joined the non-sporting group. By and large, the AKC standard follows quite closely to FCI’s and UKC’s (which recognized the breed in 1996)—there are some notable differences, including a weight disqualification in FCI and UKC that does not appear in the AKC standard, but the essence remains the same.​
We at Firebird are committed to upholding the AKC and UKC standards for the Coton de Tulear. We are in tremendous gratitude for the breeders, owners, and exhibitors who have spent their lives protecting and bettering the Coton de Tulear. We have tremendous respect as well as repentance for the history of this magnificent breed. While we cannot erase the past, and nor would we want to, we can learn from it, and move forward to building an inclusive, collaborative community that celebrates the Coton de Tulear.
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Written by Christa Schonscheck, 2026.