Holland WON'T pose!

Rabbits Online Forum

Help Support Rabbits Online Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

lauratunes12

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 29, 2012
Messages
226
Reaction score
5
Location
Willmar, Minnesota, USA
The stinker is 14 weeks old, and just will not pose. She poses by herself, but won't do it when we try to do it. We've tried treating her, giving her head rubs, etc.. She just will not pose! Se either bites us or won't put her front feet down when we bring the front part of her body up. Tips?
 
I know that Hollands can be very stubborn especially with posing. I would assume its also like with a brit. You have to be consistent and work with it every day.

With my brits we would work and I wouldn't let them go until they would pose. So what I would do is just mess with them and mess with them until they get annoyed. Then you know you are getting somewhere and they finally give up and pose. Once they pose for the first couple of times i let them go as soon as they sit still and stop fighting. Then as we work more i increase the amount of time they sit still. Some Judges will usually spend time to work with an animal for posing so that helps but keep working with it.
 
Also I wouldn't let her get away with biting. If she bites a judge with that attitude she might get DQ'd. If that means wearing gloves or something to show her it doesn't matter if she does it won't stop you then try that. Once they are done being frustrated they give up and you do too. Let them rest and always end it on a good note
 
She had to go from her free time to back in her cage when she bit. I was surprised, because she had never done it before. Then again, we had trimmed her nails and brushed her the same night, so maybe it was too much stuff.

Any tips to get their front feet down though? She will let us get her back end in perfect position, but then is stubborn when it comes to her front end. I tried pulling her feet down while my stepsister posed her, but she squirmed out of it, so we gave up with that.

I guess we'll just keep working!
 
The Holland Lop pose is almost entirely structural. A well-bred and nicely typed animal will be much more willing to pose and easier to pose because their body type allows for it. It's simply easier for them to pose.

Rabbits that are longer in body, low in shoulder, long in bone, etc. will typically be more difficult to pose because they're not built for it.

If you're having a lot of trouble with posing, it could be that the rabbit's type makes a correct pose difficult. It's not impossible for a beautifully typed animal to be a "table hugger," but I've found that generally the closer they are to the standard, the more willing the rabbit will be.

Beyond the build of the rabbit, like mentioned, it just takes practice to get the rabbit used to being messed with.
 
She has a really great body, she's just stubborn. I guess we'll just keep working, thanks! Like I said, she does pose herself, just won't let us.
 
Again the only posing rabbit I own is a brit so i don't know if this is the same but to put the front feet down I will pat rocky on his butt or hind end and he eventually sets them down. I totally agree with Julie about being structural but at 3-4 months wouldn't it be that junior attitude ?
 
It could be a junior thing...in that case, practice and maturity will help.

Did you purchase your Holland from a breeder? Was the breeder able to pose and go over the rabbit's type with you? I ask because a Holland's type is evaluated while it's sitting in a correct breed pose. So if you're saying her type is great, I'm guessing it's safe to assume that the breeder may have been able to pose her. If you live near the breeder, I'd contact them and see whether they would be available sometime to work with you and your Holland on posing. It may be that you're not handling her correctly or that you're not firm enough, etc. It does take awhile to get used to posing an upright breed so sometimes it's an "operator error." lol
 
Yes, we got her from a breeder. I haven't seen her officially posed, but I'm just going off what I see when she poses herself. The breeder is about 2 hours away, but we could maybe contact her.

She's done this since we first got her at 7 weeks old, she's just got an attitude. I will maybe try patting her butt, never thought of that. She usually just looks more confused than annoyed, so hopefully practice will help. We've got all winter and spring before we start showing her.

Thanks guys. :)
 
for the bitting, you might also want to try a gentle thump on the nose- that stopped my last holland baby from biting while we were learning to sit posed. She's not perfect by any stretch in body type(at least I don't think so, I'd like some more depth and width to that body) but she'll sit posed now, I started her when she was 4 weeks old being sat on the table and asked to sit up, she's just under 5 months now and poses quite nicely(she went through that nipping stage at 3 months)
 

Latest posts

Back
Top