The Coton de Tuléar is a breed of small dog named for the city of Tuléar (also known as Toliara) in Madagascar. This breed is thought to have originated from a group of small white dogs who swam across the Malagasy channel following a shipwreck. Like poodles, they do not 'shed', meaning they don't drop hair on furniture, carpeting, etc. They do lose hair; the texture of their coat causes the shed hair to be trapped in the coat. When Dr. Robert Jay Russell discovered the breed in Madagascar in 1973 and brought the first ones to America, he coined the phrase the Royal Dog of Madagascar and the name stuck. They were also imported occasionally into France by returning French colonists, but were not officially imported to Europe until the 1970s.