Thinking of showing bunny, no idea where to start

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stargazerLily

stargazerLily

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Joined
Jul 29, 2007
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North of Dayton, Ohio, USA
We've been looking at English Lops and finally jumped in and brought our first one home yesterday (had no idea they weren't easy to find). We are now the proud owners of an opal jr buck, who I think is still a little young to be shown. I would love to enter him in a show or two though. I've shown cats for the last 7 years, and have been around dog shows, and even rat shows, but rabbit shows are a whole new ballgame to me. Can some one explain them to me?
 
Honestly? I'm kinda thinking the same thing. However,I want a show rabbit for fairs. I'm not in 4-H,I'm in FFA and my Advisors focus more on showing livestock.
 
Rabbits are very fun to show! What you will do is you will need to find a suitable carrier so you can take your rabbit to the show, and then you have to go to the show(this is obvious lol) You have to pay an entry fee I want to say it is usually $2ish for each rabbit but it varies with each rabbit and can go up from that. You will wait at your "spot" until your rabbit is called than you will bring it up to the table, put it into the box, and show it. I would recommend bringing chairs to the show because otherwise you will be standing or sitting on the floor all day. Shows are an all day event (At least for me they are)

It may not seem like a lot of fun but it is! You get to meet a lot of new people and learn a lot of things! Plus there is a lot of cute rabbits you can look at:)

Also Sirfluffyfluffton, shows aren't a traumatic experience you can start showing a rabbit as a junior usually around 3-4 months for the first show. I started showing my rabbit Merlin at 8 weeks and he did great at the show! With a show rabbit you can not spay or neuter them because then they are unshowable. Show rabbits are not bonded with other rabbits, they stay in their own cage by themselves. Thats what I do with my rabbits and I can personally say my rabbits are not lonely nor are they wild from the hormones they are normal rabbits with laid back personalities.
 
Rabbit shows would be similar to cat shows in that the judge does the posing and evaluating. I don't really know about rat shows, so can't comment on them. Dog shows have the handler posing and running with the dog. For the actual showing, you just need to get your rabbit to the table at the right time and then stand back and watch.

The rabbits do have to be purebred (or at least look purebred) and be intact. A pedigree is not required unless you want to register you rabbit and registration is not required to show. Each breed has it's own standard and accepted colours.

Rabbits are shown in classes that are based on breed, age, sex and colour variety. The colour varieties can vary from breed to breed, some it is just solid or broken pattern and others it is the actual colour. Age is junior, intermediate and senior. Junior is under 6 months and senior is over 6 months, intermediate is for the giant breeds and is 6-8 months. Breed is the breed and sex is buck or doe. If a rabbit wins their class, they move up to Best of Breed and eventually Best in Show. Some shows will do Best 4 and 6 class or even divide the breeds up into groups.

Each show is a bit different. Many require the rabbits to stay in their carrier for the show, but others provide cages. You should bring your own food and water. It is good to clean out the carrier as well, probably at least daily.

Each show should have a show catalogue and entry form. The catalogue will have the info on the show from where and when it is to the judges and specific rules for that show. The entry form is just what you need to enter. Some shows require you to enter in advance while others just do entries on the day of the show. Payment can usually be done at the show.

Basically what you need to do is check the catalogue for the rules and get your entry in on time. Show up early so you can pay, check in and get set up. Some show do set up the night before and you can leave your rabbit overnight. There should be a list of the breed judging order, so that should give you an idea on when your rabbit will be up. At the right time, they will announce when each breed it us, get your rabbit to the table. There will be small coops to put them in and there might be one for him, so make sure he gets in the right one. Then step back and watch and listen to the judge. When it is over, take your rabbit back to the carrier. If he got Best of Breed, he will come back later for Best in Show. You usually do have to stay for the whole day, so bring something to do. There are usually auctions, raffles and other things going on as well to help raise money for the host club.

If you can, it can be a good idea to go to a show to see what it is like. Don't enter your rabbit and just watch. You don't need to be there all day, so a few hours should be good to see what goes on.
 
Korr_and_Sophie said:
Rabbit shows would be similar to cat shows in that the judge does the posing and evaluating. I don't really know about rat shows, so can't comment on them. Dog shows have the handler posing and running with the dog. For the actual showing, you just need to get your rabbit to the table at the right time and then stand back and watch.

The rabbits do have to be purebred (or at least look purebred) and be intact. A pedigree is not required unless you want to register you rabbit and registration is not required to show. Each breed has it's own standard and accepted colours.

Rabbits are shown in classes that are based on breed, age, sex and colour variety. The colour varieties can vary from breed to breed, some it is just solid or broken pattern and others it is the actual colour. Age is junior, intermediate and senior. Junior is under 6 months and senior is over 6 months, intermediate is for the giant breeds and is 6-8 months. Breed is the breed and sex is buck or doe. If a rabbit wins their class, they move up to Best of Breed and eventually Best in Show. Some shows will do Best 4 and 6 class or even divide the breeds up into groups.

Each show is a bit different. Many require the rabbits to stay in their carrier for the show, but others provide cages. You should bring your own food and water. It is good to clean out the carrier as well, probably at least daily.

Each show should have a show catalogue and entry form. The catalogue will have the info on the show from where and when it is to the judges and specific rules for that show. The entry form is just what you need to enter. Some shows require you to enter in advance while others just do entries on the day of the show. Payment can usually be done at the show.

Basically what you need to do is check the catalogue for the rules and get your entry in on time. Show up early so you can pay, check in and get set up. Some show do set up the night before and you can leave your rabbit overnight. There should be a list of the breed judging order, so that should give you an idea on when your rabbit will be up. At the right time, they will announce when each breed it us, get your rabbit to the table. There will be small coops to put them in and there might be one for him, so make sure he gets in the right one. Then step back and watch and listen to the judge. When it is over, take your rabbit back to the carrier. If he got Best of Breed, he will come back later for Best in Show. You usually do have to stay for the whole day, so bring something to do. There are usually auctions, raffles and other things going on as well to help raise money for the host club.

If you can, it can be a good idea to go to a show to see what it is like. Don't enter your rabbit and just watch. You don't need to be there all day, so a few hours should be good to see what goes on.
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This is perfect and it explains everything, follow what Korr_and_Sophie said it is a lot more in depth than ,my, er, explanation was lol:)
 
If you haven't yet, I'd recommend checking out https://www.arba.net. There is a show search toolbar there where you can find shows and a link to the catalog, or at least an email for the show secretary.

The most important thing initially is to learn as much about your breed specifically as you can. The ARBA publishes a Standard of Perfection book, available on their website, that gives a detailed point breakdown of each breed. That way, you can flip to the English Lop pages and compare to your rabbit to make sure he or she doesn't have any disqualifications. Rabbits do not need to be purebred or pedigreed to show, they just need to be intact and have the characteristics of the breed you plan to show them under to prevent getting DQed.

Attending a show before you actually enter is a great idea. Can you talk to the breeder of your rabbit about a show they may be attending? If you can shadow them, it will be much easier to follow along.
 
I've been to a few rabbit shows, most recently a couple weeks ago. My oldest was showing horses at the fair and we happened to walk into the rabbit barn when an open show was going on. The breeder of my rabbit is getting out of rabbits, so no more shows for her, but I did contact another breeder who is not too far away, but she stated she doesn't go to many shows, only ones with Elops as sanctioned breeds. She told me that if you show your rabbit and it's a sanctioned breed that they earn legs (still trying to figure out how legs equate out). Can you show a rabbit at a show where it isn't sanctioned? Do you have to have the fancy carriers that hold two or three rabbits? I've seen some shows say youth and open. Can a rabbit be shown both youth and open? I am a member of the state rabbit page/forum that talks about a lot of shows coming up, so I've been watching that too to see if there are any shows close by. I've been juggling the idea of breeding Elops, but I don't want to use any unless they meet breed standard and don't have any DQ's.
 
Your breed doesn't have to be sanctioned in order to show or to earn legs. Sanctioning means that you get points with your national breed club towards sweepstakes awards. Some people don't care about that and some do.

The same rabbit can't be shown in both Open and Youth at the same show. If it's a double show then I believe you could show him in Open in Show A and your son/daughter could show him in Youth in Show B. No, you don't need those fancy carriers. Those are used by people who have multiple rabbits to show. If you only have one you could use a small pet carrier. I've seen a number of Youth use those, but they're more suited for the smaller breeds. You may want to talk to your breeder about how they transport because you may have to take certain precautions with elops because of their long ears.

Since you visited a few shows, then just check the standards for elops and make sure your rabbit meets minimum weight and/or age requirements. According to the SOP, juniors are under 6 months and minimum weight to show is 4 3/4 lbs and max weight is 9 1/2 lbs.
 
You don't need to use the wire carriers and certainly don't need one that can hold 2 or 3 rabbits if you only have 1. Breeders tend to use them and they are easy to stack, can fit a few rabbits, have pull out bottoms (easy to clean during a show) and don't take up as much room per rabbit as a cat carrier does. If you just have one rabbit, you can use whatever carrier you want that your rabbit will fit in. A hard plastic or wire one is best as they can't be chewed and keep a rabbit safe in the car.

Sanctions are for the breed club. You get points based on how the rabbit does and that goes to some awards from the breed club. Sanctioning usually happens if there will be a fair number of that breed at a show, if there is one shower and a couple rabbits, it's not worth it it sanction the breed. Legs are earend if there are at least 5 rabbits show by at least 3 exhibitors. A rabbit needs at least 3 legs to become a grand champion. A show does have to be ARBA sanctioned to get legs, but the individual breeds do not have to be.

Any rabbit or person can show in open classes. Youth is for those under 18, but over 5 years. A rabbit can't be shown in both open and youth on the same day or the same show. If there was a youth and open show going on at the same time, you can show in both, but a rabbit can only be shown in one of them. Some show don't have many youth exhibitors, so there isn't much competition.

Get a copy of the Standard of Perfection. Some shows have them available to buy, but you can also order it from the ARBA website. It goes into detail about the breed standard and DQs.
 
Ok. I found a show that is not too far from me at the end of the month. It says it's a double show. Does that mean the rabbit goes in front of 2 judges? It looks like Elops are one of the sanctioned breeds. So when they are judged, do they go against same color first? Same age group? All the breed is judged at once? Does he have to be tattooed before he's shown? If so, how do I find some one to tattoo? Also, what does the cost per fur mean?
 
Double shows means there are 2 shows going on that day. If the number are low (under about 250 rabbits), each judge will do one show. If the numbers are larger, then the judges will judge a portion of the show. Double or even triple shows mean your rabbits will be seen by at least 2 different judges and as part of 2 shows.

The class is age, sex, colour and breed. So it would be all the Jr bucks of one colour or variety go together, and all the jr does of that colour are judged together. English Lops are either solid or broken pattern.

Breeds are judged individually and the order varies. You might have Holland Lops first, then Flemish Giants, then Tans, then English Lops. With a double show, they usually try to stagger the breeds so one breed wont be up at both tables as the same time. If a breed has a lot of entires, they might judge some classes first, then remove those and judge other classes with the winner staying until they get to Best of Breed.

Rabbits do have to be tattooed in the left ear to be shown. There usually will be a breeder available to do tattoos for a small fee. If the show has a FB page, you can ask on there. You would need to get it done before the showing starts.

There are classes for fur or wool where the rabbit is judged on that. You don't have to enter this if you don't want to.
 
Korr_and_Sophie said:
You don't need to use the wire carriers and certainly don't need one that can hold 2 or 3 rabbits if you only have 1. Breeders tend to use them and they are easy to stack, can fit a few rabbits, have pull out bottoms (easy to clean during a show) and don't take up as much room per rabbit as a cat carrier does. If you just have one rabbit, you can use whatever carrier you want that your rabbit will fit in. A hard plastic or wire one is best as they can't be chewed and keep a rabbit safe in the car.
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I would recommend investing in a proper carrier. When I first started I only had one rabbit to show and I used a cat carrier. By the end of the day my rabbit was full of pee and poop was stuck all over him. I ended up getting a two hole wire carrier. I used one hole to put my rabbit in and the other one to put extra stuff for the show in. Eventually as i got more rabbits I invested in a better carrier but with having a bad experience using a cat carrier at a show I always recommend getting a carrier, especially if you plan to start going to shows more often.
 
Korr_and_Sophie said:
The class is age, sex, colour and breed. So it would be all the Jr bucks of one colour or variety go together, and all the jr does of that colour are judged together. English Lops are either solid or broken pattern.
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This depends on the breed, they're not all shown in the same way. I think all lop breeds are the same and show in only solid or broken, so color doesn't matter (just the pattern).

Other breeds show in color varieties (agouti, self, shaded, etc.) Some breeds show by color (black, blue, BEW). Angoras just show by white or colored fur. Those things are all detailed in the standards for each breed. :)
 
You'll need to decide what tattoo to put in your rabbit's ear ahead of time because the entry form will ask for it. If you can find someone to tattoo him ahead of time that's great. Worse case, there's usually someone at the show who can do it for you. He has to have a permanent, legible tattoo or he'll be DQ'd so make sure it's done before he has to show.
 
stargazerLily said:
I've been to a few rabbit shows, most recently a couple weeks ago. ... She told me that if you show your rabbit and it's a sanctioned breed that they earn legs (still trying to figure out how legs equate out).
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It looks to me like a "leg" is equivalent to a "major" in dog shows. A dog (at least at last reckoning) needs three "majors" and the requisite number of points to make Champion; a rabbit needs three "legs" for a title.

Caveat: I observe dog shows (I'm active in my breed's rescue; mine are all spayed/neutered); I show only in Veterans' Sweepstakes. I have no rabbit yet.
 
Dogcatmom - see I can tell you how many finals and points you need to get a title in the cat show world, just not in the rabbit world.

I e-mailed the show secretary of the show I'm looking at going to. She's not far from me and said she can tattoo my rabbit or knows some one even closer to me who can do it. I guess now I have to figure out how to keep my rabbit from scratching his ears when he hops.
 
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