How To Show Your Rabbit

Chapter 3 - Conditioning and Working With Your Show Rabbits

Get Your Show Rabbits Ready!

Once you have decided which rabbits to show, you need to get to work preparing them for their first show.  Presenting a well-conditioned, healthy and calm rabbit takes consistent care and handling months before the actual show date!   As I mentioned earlier, you can just pick up your rabbits and go to a show without doing anything ahead of time, but as time goes by you will still want to develop a plan for keeping your show line in top shape so read on.  A few pointers to help you out;

Conditioning - a well-conditioned rabbit is the result of a quality diet, coupled with exercise and genetics.  Although you can't change the genetics of your rabbit, you do have control over feeding and exercise. 

Start out by weighing your rabbit - how does he or she fit into the showroom category for his/her age? (also, figure out how old your rabbit will be on the date of the show) Run your hands firmly over your rabbit from neck to tail - does your rabbit feel solid?  You don't want to feel bones, or flabby skin and excess fat!

Any changes to your rabbits diet should be gradual; drastic, short-term 'fixes', such as crash diets, are not good for your rabbit and may cause you lots of trouble.  Sudden changes in diet, in particular, changes in the level of protein in the diet, may force your rabbit into a full-blown molt.  Also keep in mind that you can not 'diet down' a rabbit that is structurally too large for it's proper class - this type of rabbit is commonly called a 'brood or breeding rabbit' and is often not a good candidate for the showroom.

Monitor your rabbit's diet and make sure he is not overfed (resulting in an overweight or flabby rabbit) or underfed (bony, thin).  Some breeders supplement with various conditioning feeds such as rolled oats, black-oil sunflower seeds or commercially-prepared rabbit conditioners.  Survey other breeders to see what they think is good to use as far as conditioning supplements go.  And remember that rabbits fed a quality diet to begin with may not even need a conditioner. 

Regular exercise never hurts!  Muscle tone will improve if you routinely let your rabbit play in a large pen or exercise area.  A little exercise will help a rabbit that is hovering dangerously close to the top weight limit for their breed.

Care - a show rabbit that appears healthy, clean and well-conditioned is usually the result of consistent, long-term, quality care.  Develop your care routines to include frequent cage cleaning, unfailing supply of fresh, clean water, steady quality diet and exercise along with regular grooming and medical management.  Although I am sure it is attempted quite often, it is still a considerable chore to pull a dirty, molting rabbit out of a filthy cage and clean him up enough so he looks like a top-notch show rabbit!

Trim your rabbits toenails (and don't forget the dewclaws on the insides of the front legs) well before the show - just-trimmed nails are sharp and no treat for the judge handling your rabbit!

Handling - at a rabbit show, the judge will inspect and pose your rabbit.  A calm, well-behaved rabbit will allow the judge to evaluate him fully.  Take the time to work with your rabbit, even a few minutes every few days will help; pose him frequently, flip him upside down and inspect his feet, belly, tail, etc, check his teeth, etc.  Basically, you should get him used to being handled, touched, and posed before his first show.

Posing - Many of the commercial-type rabbits, such as the French Lops, should be posed so they are down on the table (not sitting up) with their front elbows and legs flat on the table and positioned under their shoulders -the tips of their front feet should line up directly below their eyes.  The hindquarters should be square on the ground, their back feet directly underneath the hindquarters - the rabbit should not be scrunched up so much that the back feet end up right behind, or in front of  the front elbows- this extreme scrunching often makes the shoulders and top line look nicer than they really are, but also makes the rabbit appear undercut at the hindquarters-a nasty fault!

Holland Lops are uniquely posed; they are supposed to be sitting up, resting lightly on their front feet, not mashed down on the ground, - practice posing Hollands by either grasping the head, or putting your finger under their chin, and gently lift up to 'tip' them back so their weight is on their hindquarters - this will put them into a 'sitting up' position. 

The Holland should not be sitting up so high that you can see a lot of daylight under their stomach.  They should be resting gently on their front legs with their head up.  The body of the properly-posed Holland should resemble a softly rounded square with a head on it with no visible neck.  The topline, (starting just behind the head and going across the back to the loin area), should be level across the top of the rabbit. The shoulders should be about the same height or only slightly higher, as the loin area.  The hindquarters should gently round downwards from the loin to full bottom square on the table.

If you show Holland Lops, you may find yourself exasperated at some shows by the occasional judge who do not properly pose Holland Lops while evaluating them.  This is always a source of frustration for Holland breeders - but you can take some comfort in the fact that if all the rabbits in your rabbit's class are posed the same way - even if poorly- they are still being equally evaluated by the judge.  Those who teach their Hollands to pose quickly and without a lot of manipulation will usually fare better even under poor posing by a judge.

It does take practice to teach your rabbit to pose and hold a pose long enough for a judge to be able to evaluate the rabbit - those who work with their rabbits will see the benefits on the show tables!

Tattoo now - your rabbit must have a readable and permanent tattoo inside his LEFT ear in order to be shown.  Since it can take a few weeks for a new tattoo job to heal so it is readable, we suggest you tattoo or touch-up tattoos well before the show date!

If you don't know how to tattoo, we have a segment all about tattooing rabbits in our website, plus info in our Rabbit Care Booklet that tells how to tattoo a rabbit using a clamp-style tattooer.

Teaching to pose takes time and a lot of patience!  Start while bunny is young and keep smiling!
		-Here, Kelly is just starting to work with a young French Lop.  He has different ideas!
		He is almost posed..even if  poorly.....but- the second Kelly's hand comes off - he'll spring up!
	-as curious as he is naughty;  hmmm...what's on the other side?	Ok,,,this is not working,- we'll do some more tomorrow!