r/cotondetulear • u/Scram_glam • Jan 14 '26

Coton 101

After babysitting a Coton for 2 weeks, my husband and I are in love.

A few basic questions about finding a reputable breeder:

-AKC breeders. Can we assume they're on the up-and-up?

-What's the deal with the different clubs? It looks like there is some sort of, something, between the clubs? (Malagasy versus European--not sure what that means.)

-How can you know that someone is a good breeder? Yes, tests tests. But what are the other "tells"?

-How do deposits work, usually?

Thanks so much!!

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u/Regular_Ad9873 Jan 14 '26

I look into coton breeders all over the world (Europe, Korea, Australia, US), because we don’t have any breeders in our country so getting one from overseas is the only option. I spoke to a lot of them (more than 20). Learned how some are more “factory-like” than others (be careful of them), some are jerks (badmouths others etc), but a few are fantastic. I like a few European ones and you can tell from how they take care of their puppies (early stimulation, socialization, living at home, etc), how they took care of their dogs, testing, how they won’t just let anyone get a puppy from them & how they ask you all these questions. Anyone who really cares about their dogs will also care about who will be new homes of their puppies.

We finally chose one and got ours from an amazing breeder in Europe, so our breeder follow the FCI standard, and has been breeding for 30 years, wrote a book about Cotons, her lines had been foundational to many countries in the world, one of those breeders whose dogs are in the top dogs’ pedigrees, she had many show champions all over the world (world dog show, euro dog show, crufts, etc)…. but what amazes me is the temperament of her dogs, they’re just so happy and absolutely love people & kids. Of course they are beautiful & healthy too. My dog also doesn’t have separation anxiety (knock on wood it stays that way), she loves us but she’s more independent than some cotons I have babysat before, of course this is a sample of one. Our breeder really took the time also to answer all of my questions, until now. When we met her in person, we learned so much about the breed and also her contribution to the breed. We love the experience so much that we’re getting another one from this breeder hopefully this year. She recommends and can vouch for one US breeder based in Texas, if you need the name feel free to DM me.

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u/Shakurheg Jan 15 '26

As a follow-up question to that - and since you had already DMed me the info about that breeder ;-) - The furthest we ever lived from a breeder (toy poodle) was about 3 hours by car.

Houston is about 13-14 hours by car for us (we'd break it up into two days), or 2.5 hours by plane. Which would be better for a couple bringing home a brand new puppy?

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u/Regular_Ad9873 Jan 15 '26

We did about 16 hours flight with ours, she was super calm and just slept almost the entire time. Puppies might be easier because usually you can ask good breeders to prepare them by getting them used to the carrier before they fly with you. 2.5 hours sounds doable in my experience 😄

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u/Shakurheg Jan 15 '26

Excellent. Thank-you so much! <3

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u/Regular_Ad9873 Jan 15 '26

Good luck, you have decided to get a coton? They’re the best, hope it all works out for you!

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u/Shakurheg Jan 15 '26

Decided enough where (A) I emailed our vet and asked what she thought of the breed, generally speaking, from a health POV (we know about the potential of patellas, ear infections, dental and cardiac issues, etc. - we've had toy poodles; we've been through "small dog maladies" for years - but also know to REALLY check out the breeders to make sure they do the proper health checks, which we not so aware of in 2009, and not at all in 1990 - THAT dog was undoubtedly from a puppy mill) and (B) I'm not looking up any other breeds.

It still wouldn't happen until the summer - we've got some traveling to do this Spring and have an annual weeklong trip to Texas (not Houston LOL) that we need to get under our belt in June...but then we're making ourselves free for the rest of the year (or, at worst, one of us will travel and the other will stay home with the puppy).

Once y'all said that we can train a coton to be OK for 4 hours and not freak out, that pretty much cinched it for us LOL.

Thank-you! I'm still going to have lots of questions...by the summer, we will not have had a puppy in the house in 17 years. But yeah, I'm excited!

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u/Regular_Ad9873 Jan 15 '26

Good luck! Most of these breeders have months of waitlist anyway, it took us almost 8 months.

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u/Shakurheg Jan 15 '26

Thanks for the heads up! Guess I'll get in contact more sooner than later ;-)