How To Show Your Rabbit

Most local rabbit shows are "day of show entry", which means you enter your rabbits in the show on the same day the show is held.  "Pre-entry' means you send in your entry forms before the show begins, sometimes a month or so before the show is actually held. 

Many major breed shows and conventions operate on a 'pre-entry' system so they can plan according to the expected attendance.

Since most regular rabbit shows (at least in the Midwest region of USA) are "day of show entry" and not 'pre-entry', this is the type of show we will discuss here.  If you are entering a pre-entry show, almost all the info in our rabbit show articles will still be useful - you will just mail or turn in your rabbit entry forms before the show.  This started out as a large article, which we since broke down into several, fast-loading chapters for your convenience - use the arrow keys to navigate throughout.

scroll down for the first chapter

Chapter 1:  About Rabbit Shows and Rabbit Clubs

A Few basics for day-of-entry rabbit shows:

• Local shows are usually one or two-day long shows, held on weekends

• You can usually show your rabbits even if you are not a member of ARBA or any rabbit club

• Your rabbits do not need pedigrees in order to be shown, but they should be purebred

• You can enter as many rabbits as you want in a rabbit show

• You can attend shows in any state

How To Prepare For Your First Show

Although you can simply pick up your rabbits and go to any show at the spur-of-the-moment, properly preparing for your first show will offer you a much more successful first show experience!  We'll start out with some things you can do well before your first rabbit show.

Join Rabbit Clubs before you enter your first show!  

Although it is not required for you to be a member of any rabbit club or ARBA in order to show your rabbits, we highly recommend you join ARBA and rabbit clubs. Your membership not only supports the clubs, your breeds, and our hobby, but is a great way to meet other breeders and learn more about your breeds and showing!  Plus......points are awarded when you do well at shows, what if you end up doing really well at your first show? - you will want your points earned to count, and they won't unless you are a paid member of at least ARBA, your Breed Specialty Club and your state rabbit breeders association!

Major club types:

• ARBA or The American Rabbit Breeders Association;  this is the parent club of all rabbit and cavy clubs throughout North America and many other parts of the world.  This club overseas all ARBA sanctioned clubs and shows.  Read more about why you should join ARBA here.

• Breed Specialty Clubs; each ARBA-recognized rabbit and cavy breed has its' own national club.  Through your breed club you can participate in points sweepstakes, stay in contact with others who raise the same breed as you, and attend that breed's yearly convention show!

• State Rabbit Breeders Association; most US states have an ARBA-chartered State club.  These are fun to join and put you in touch with other breeders throughout your state.  Most states also track their own points sweepstakes and offer awards at a yearly state convention and banquet!

• Local Rabbit Clubs;  these can be either all-breed clubs, or specific breed clubs in your area.  These local rabbit clubs are the hard-working clubs that put on the rabbit and cavy shows that we all attend - these clubs are generally free or very affordable to join and many hold monthly or periodic meetings and run one or two rabbit/cavy shows a year.  These rabbit and cavy clubs can always use more help - everything from helping to set up and tear down rabbit shows, working at the show, to behind-the-scene duties such as making the club newsletter, website, working on after-show reports and more.  Join your local rabbit club for great fun and to meet other local breeders.

Through the American Rabbit Breeders Association, you can find listings of Breed Specialty Clubs, State RBAs, and local rabbit clubs.  You can also visit our other website, The Rabbit & Cavy Directory for info on national Breed Specialty clubs and more.

 Find shows you plan to attend

ARBA-sanctioned rabbit shows can be found at the ARBA website, (on the ARBA website show search; to find shows in your area, just select a State, then check off the boxes for the months you desire - you can select other info to, but by selecting just the state and months will get you a thorough list of all shows in your area) and also from your state's rabbit breeders association website (if they have a website).  Once you find a show that interests you, call, write, or email the show secretary and ask to have a show catalog sent to you. 

The show catalog will give you all the important details about the show; dates and times, location, how much entry fees are, starting breeds (which breeds will be shown first), what breeds are 'sanctioned', rules, and more. 

Each breed that has been sanctioned by its' national Breed Specialty Club will be listed in the catalog.  This means the club putting the show on, or someone else, has paid the sanction fee to the breed specialty club.  If your breed is recognized by ARBA but is not sanctioned for the show you'd like to attend, you can pay the sanction fee yourself so your breed sweepstakes points you earn at the show will count.  This is usually less than $15, and in most cases, must be paid to the sanctioning club before the show date.  You can still show if your breed is not sanctioned and you can still earn Grand Champion Legs, you just won't get any recognition from your breed specialty club in the way of sweepstakes points. 

Sometimes a breed will be sanctioned for only OPEN, and not YOUTH - or visa versa,  youth exhibitors (or anyone) can either pay the youth sanction fee so they can show in youth, or they can choose to exhibit in the open class.  Sanctioning is a little confusing for the beginner - if you'd like to find out more, call the show secretary directly.

If you want to show a breed not recognized by ARBA, or a newly-recognized breed, call the show secretary for details ahead of time - usually you can show unrecognized breeds but you will not earn points or awards, and to show some new breeds, or breeds under development, require you to bring a copy of the "working standard' of the breed in order to exhibit.

Specialty Shows:  Sometimes there will be a breed specialty show held within a regular all-breed rabbit show.  A specialty show is usually put on by a local breed-specific rabbit club.  The specialty show will, in most cases, have its own show secretary and show committee, and usually this info is printed in the all-breed show's catalog.  If you own the breed shown in the specialty show, you can show your rabbit although you will need a separate entry form and separate remark cards, plus you'll pay separate entry fees to the specialty club secretary (read more on our How To Fill Out Entry Forms page) The specialty show will usually have their own show tables set up away from the main rabbit show tables and they will usually begin their show after that breed has been judged in the regular show.   What a great opportunity to earn extra points for your breed and at the same time support your local breed clubs!