Let’s take a trip to Madagascar: the “Red Island”, so called because of the color of its land.

Madagascar, the world's fourth largest island, lies in the Indian Ocean, southeast off the coast of Africa. Tuléar is a port city in the southwestern coast of Madagascar.

Almost all breeds have their own legend and Cotons are no exception. A long, long time ago, around the 15th century, a ship was wrecked in Madagascar’s waters… Little dogs of the “Bichon” type – often found on ships (either as precious passengers or embarked to chase rats) – swam to the shore and reached the harbor of Tuléar, South East of Madagascar. These brave little dogs “married” locally and gave birth to the very first Cotons de Tuléar. The Coton seems to be the result of various breeding of several kinds of “bichons”, Bedlington type terriers and other small spaniels that arrived in Madagascar with the first European visitors at the beginning of the 16th century. However, the precise origins of the breed will keep its secret forever.

The President of the Malagasy Canine Society, Monsieur Petit, confirms the Malagasy origins of the Coton… Though the origins of our breed are poorly documented, it is interesting to read the testimony of Etienne de Flacourt – Fort-Dauphin Governor – who observed “a great number of small dogs, with long muzzles, short legs, like foxes. Some of them are white. They are born of small dogs that came from France and they seem to have settled here”.

The natives fell in love with these little white dogs and offered them to the King and Malagasy nobles. It became known as "The Royal Dog of Madagascar." The Coton is the "Official Dog of Madagascar," and has been honored on a postage stamp (above).

The breed was officially recognized by the FCI (Fédération Cynologique Internationale) in 1970 and began being seen in Europe towards 1975.

In 1997 the official standard of the breed was entrusted to France after several failures to reintroduce the breed in its country of origins, Madagascar.

(Picture: Cotons of Madagascar)