FCI-Standard N° 283 / 04. 02. 2000 / GB
COTON DE TULEAR
TRANSLATION : Mrs. Pamela Jeans-Brown, Mrs.Renée Sporre-Willes, Mr.
Raymond Triquet.
ORIGIN : Madagascar.
PATRONAGE : France.
DATE OF PUBLICATION OF THE ORIGINAL VALID STANDARD : 25.11.1999.
UTILIZATION : Companion dog.
CLASSIFICATION F.C.I. : 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.
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
the PM1 is not penalised; 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 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.
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 : 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 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.
SKIN : Fine, stretched tight over all the body; although of pink colour,
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 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.
SIZE AND WEIGHT :
Height at withers :
Males :
26-28 cm, tolerance of 2 cm above
and 1 cm below.
Females :
23-25 cm, tolerance of 2 cm above
and 1 cm below.
Weight :
Males :
From 4 kg
to a maximum of 6 kg.
Females :
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 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.
ELIMINATING FAULTS :
Aggresive or overly shy.
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.
Any dog clearly showing physical or behavioural abnormalities shall be
disqualified.
N.B. : Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully
descended into the scrotum.
