Bichon Frise vs Coton de Tulear

If the movie biz was composed entirely of canines, the Bichon Frise would win a People’s Choice Award. Their charming personality effortlessly captures everyone’s attention, including other pups. The Bichon is a lover, not a fighter and wants to engage with other people and pets. Smart with plenty of emotional intelligence, a Bichon can be adept to navigating the needs of people around them—especially if trained and socialized at an early age.

The Bichon Frise dog breed is great with kids and babies and can happily spend the morning romping with toddlers in the backyard. Later in the day, they’re content to spend hours curled on the lap of your great grandma. In fact, it’s this calming characteristic that makes them great emotional support and therapy dogs.

Velcro dog alert: Bichons do not like to be left alone for long (their name does mean “curly lapdog,” after all), but that doesn’t mean you need to entertain them 24/7. (It does mean you can say goodbye to peaceful soaks in the bathtub.) They need to have people around during the day.

Cotons du Tulear are happy, easy-going and lovable, with a talent for charming the pants off people. They were bred to be your canine BFFs, and they take that job seriously (it may, in fact, be the only thing they do take seriously). With their comedic sense of timing, good humor and the way they try to “talk” to you with their human-like vocalizations, Cotons will keep your loneliness at bay and bring sunshine to even your gloomiest days.

Although they’re not yappy like some small dogs, Cotons will bark to let you know someone’s at the door or in the yard. But don’t expect them to make good watchdogs unless you prefer your burglars to be greeted with kisses. Cotons are way more bark than bite, and once they’ve told you company’s arrived, they’ll rush to be the first to welcome the newcomers with sweet, slobbery greetings.

These bubbly extroverts love meeting new people and also get along well with other dogs and cats. If you can’t be home most of the day or take your Coton with you when you leave, a pet sibling will soothe their loneliness and help prevent separation anxiety. Cotons de Tulear get along great with kids of all ages, which make them terrific family dogs.

Cotons’ eagerness to please makes them obedient and easy to train. They also do well in agility and conformation (dog show) sports. But while they have a lot of energy to burn, they’re not hyper, and it doesn’t take much to tire them out. They’re really happiest just keeping you company and following you around all day. Sure, your therapist might accuse them of being co-dependent, but you’ll be too charmed to care.