Coton De Tulear

General Information - Coton De Tulear

Coton De Tulear

A breed standard is the guideline which describes the ideal characteristics, temperament, and appearance of a breed and ensures that the breed is fit for function with soundness essential. Breeders and judges should at all times be careful to avoid obvious conditions and exaggerations, as well as being mindful of features which could be detrimental in any way to the health, welfare or soundness of this breed.

Breed Standard - Coton De Tulear

Translation: Mrs Pamela Jeans-Brown, Mrs Renée SporreWilles, Mr Raymond Triquet.

Origin: Madagascar.

Patronage: France.

Date of Publication of the Official Valid Standard: 25.11.1999.

Utilization: Companion dog.

FCI classification: 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/Temperament: 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.

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.


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.

Cheeks: Lean.

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

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.
General Appearance - The frontlegs are upright.
Shoulder and upper arm - Oblique shoulder, muscled. Scapulohumeral angle about 120°. The length of the upper arm corresponds approximatively to that of the shoulder blade.
Lower arm - 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.
General Appearance - The hindlegs are upright. Though dewclaws are not sought after, their presence is not penalised.
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.

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 the 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.
Weight - Males from 4 kg to a maximum of 6 kg. Females from 3,5 kg to a maximum of 5 kg.

• 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 shoulder, 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.
• Hair - Too short, too wavy, curly.
• Pigmentation - Partially lacking or too light pigmentation of eyelids or lips; discoloured nose, with unpigmented areas.

• Aggresive or overly shy.
• Any dog clearly showing physical or behavioural abnormalities shall be disqualified.
• 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, rightly curled, woolly, silky.
• Colour - Heavily marked; any marking of a definite black.
• Pigmentation - Total lack of pigment on eyerims, 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 PM1 or the M3s.
• Aggressive or extremely shy specimen.

Note: Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum. Only functionally and clinically healthy dogs, with breed typical conformation should be used for breeding.
 
DNZ No 119
FCI No 283
Copyright Dogs New Zealand
01 Apr 2017

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 and its effect upon the health and welfare of the dog and on the dog’s ability to perform its traditional work.