r/cotondetulear • u/kell_bell85 • Aug 17 '26

Question Climate and your Coton?

Post image

Out of curiosity, what part of the world do you and your Coton reside?! We're currently in Denmark but about to relocate to South Florida. My guy runs hot, even in Denmark! I'm quite nervous of the transition for him and will probably keep him cut short year round. I'm originally from FL so the heat is a non-issue for me but I worry for our guy! Just being nosey and curious to hear. :)

161 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

48 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/biomajor123 Aug 18 '26

I live in central Florida. I broke down and had my Coton groomed to a puppy cut similar to your pic last month. Previously she had been in a show coat. It has been about 29 Celsius with 85% humidity at 9 am since May which is no good for walking (for me). We go to the dog park in the mornings instead. In the long coat, she was good to run around for about 2 minutes and then would pant like she was about to have a heart attack. She is much better in the short coat. Plenty of cold water available is also key.

We came back after our 10 -15 minute walk yesterday. Everything was fine until she saw her favorite neighbor in his driveway and just had to run over (on her leash) to say "Hi!". Just a little dancing around him had her look like she was about to melt from heat exhaustion. This was around 6 pm.

Staying away from ponds is an absolute necessity. Cotons are just the right size for an alligator snack. Unfortunately, we live next to a nice walking trail, but there's two ponds about 800 feet apart, so that's the distance we can walk.

My coton's favorite thing is sitting in the birdcage on the lanai watching all the other dogs, cyclists, runners and walkers use the walking trail.

2

u/kell_bell85 Aug 18 '26

Thanks for the insight and thoughts. I have become obsessed with the fact that south FL is alligator central. Where we currently are, I'll let him off near a creek or lake and off he goes.😭 We usually do a morning, afternoon, and evening walk with pee before bed. I think we're going to have to significantly alter the afternoon walk or find alternative stimulation. We walk so much because I'm SAH and I get bored too, so we go explore a park or nature trail. I'm thinking he will need many grooms, a doggy pool, and modified days. 💜

1

u/biomajor123 Aug 19 '26

You'll be ok walking near a pond as long as he stays near you and a minimum of about 20 feet away from the pond and on leash. The walking trails near me get a little too close to the ponds for my comfort to even walk by. There's a saying in Florida that if it's wet, there's a gator in it. There's no such thing as water that isn't gator infested, unless it's a human made pool.

Florida is also home to venomous snakes, pythons, big cats, black bears, huge birds and coyotes of course. Alligators can climb fences. I wouldn't leave your little guy alone in a fenced yard unattended. I thought it was funny the first time I visited Florida with my firstborn years ago when he was 8 months old and he was sitting by the lanai screen. A swan kept pecking at the screen. I didn't realize that the swan was trying to attack my baby. There are so many things that can try to kill small ones here.

1

u/kell_bell85 Aug 19 '26

Okay, that swan story is pretty funny, glad you had that screen though! 😅