If you are serious or even just thinking about showing or breeding rabbits of any breed your number one tool should be The Standard of Perfection (SOP). This book is written, maintained and published by the American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA). You can purchase an SOP at most rabbit shows or you can get it online from ARBA directly by clicking here. It is revised about every 4 years to include updates to specific breed changes or to add any newly recognized breeds. Currently there are 48 recognized breeds of rabbits, but some may not be listed in the SOP until the new edition is released. The SOP illustrates the qualities and characteristics of each breed of rabbit and cavy (another name for guinea pigs). The Standard of Perfection is a wonderful source to refer to when you are evaluating your own herd or looking for new stock.
The Holland Lop began from a cross-breeding between a French Lop buck and a Netherland Dwarf doe, in 1949, but it was not successful. A few years later the breeding was tried again, but this time with a French Lop doe and Netherland Dwarf buck. The offspring were then bred to an English Lop because their ears were not lopping as hoped and those offspring were bred back to the original offspring. Many years of successful matings with the ears lopping nicely and the bodyweights decreasing significantly from 7lbs to under 3lbs, the Holland Lop were well on their way. In 1964, the breed was recognized by the Netherlands Governing Rabbit Council. In 1976, the dwarf lop was brought over to the U.S. and subsequently recognized by the ARBA in 1979.
Holland Lops are shown in 2 classes - Solid OR Broken (solid color broken up by white).
The following description is taken from The Standard of Perfection for Holland Lops:
NOTE: Holland Lops should be posed with the front feet resting lightly on the table. When ideally posed and viewed from the front, the head should be carried high on the shoulders, and close to the shoulders, exposing a deep, well filled chest and short, thick front legs. Holland Lops should not be pushed down with the forelegs flat on the table. Holland Lops are generally of an excitable nature and will often exhibit poor ear carriage when being handled on the show table. In order to properly evaluate an animal's ear carriage, the animal should be allowed to relax.
BODY--Points 32: The general aspect of the body is short, massive, and thick set. The shoulders and chest should be broad and well filled. The shoulders should be deep, with the depth exhibited at the shoulders of an ideally posed animal being carried back to hindquarters of equal or slightly greater depth. The width of the shoulders should be nearly equal to, but not exceed the width of the hindquarters. The hindquarters should be broad, deep, well rounded, and well filled to the lower portions. The animals is to be heavily muscled, short-coupled, compact, and well balanced is length, width, and depth. A small, simple dewlap is permitted in does. Faults--Lacking depth throughout the body; long, low or narrow shoulders; chopped, pinched, or undercut hindquarters flatness over the hips; large dewlap in does. Cut severly for long or narrow body.
HEAD--Points 24: When viewed from the front, the head is to have good width, which begins at the base of the ears and carries down between the eyes to an extremely short and well filled muzzle. When viewed from the side, the head is round from the base of the ears, to a slight flattening between the eyes and the muzle and then to continue rounding from the lower portion to the muzzle to the neck. The eye is to be bold and deep set. The head is to be massive in appearance and set high and close to the shoulders. The size of the head is to be in proportion to the size of the body. Faults--Pinched muzzle; narowness between the eyes; head too small to balance with the body. Cut severly for narrow or long head.
EARS--Points 10: The ears should lop vertically on both sides of the head from a strongly defined and properly positioned crown. The ears should hang close to the cheeks, with the openings turned towards the head. When viewed from the front, the outline of the ears and crown should resemble a horseshoe shape. The ears should be thick, well furred, wide and well rounded at the tips. The ears should hang just behind the eyes and extend no more than 1 inch below the jaw line. Ear length and width should balance with the size of the head and body. Faults--Pointed, narrow, thin or folded ear; poor ear carriage or placement; ear length which does not balance with the size of the animal
BONE, FEET & LEGS--Points 10: The legs are to be short, thick, straight an heavily boned fro the size of the animal. White toenails are preferred on Broken Pattern animals. Broken Patterned animals are not to be disqualified for colored or mismatched toenails. Faults--Colored or mismatched toenails on Broken patterned animals. Cut severely for long legs, narrow legs, or fine bone Disqualifications from Competition--General toenail disqualifications apply on Solid Pattern animals. General toenail disqualifications, except toenail color, apply on Broken Pattern animals. FUR--Points 7: (Rollback) The fur is to be glossy, dense, fine in texture, and uniform in length. The fur is to be approzimately 1 inch in length and is to gradually rol back into normal position when it is stroked from the hindquarters to the shoulders.
COLOR & MARKINGS--Points 4: All colors shoudl conform to one of the recognized Holland Lop Color Guide descriptions. The Solid pattern classification includes al recognized colors within the recognized groups. The Broken pattern classification includes all recognized colors within the recognized groups in combination with white. Faults--Broken pattern animals--Unbalanced nose markings; white on one or both ears incomplete eye cirlces uneven patern distribution Solid pattern aniamls--Faults are as specified under each color description Disqualifications from Competition--
--Broken pattern animals--The complete absence of nose markings, absence of color on one or both ears, absence of color around one or both eyes. Eye color other than specified in the color description
The Holland Lop began from a cross-breeding between a French Lop buck and a Netherland Dwarf doe, in 1949, but it was not successful. A few years later the breeding was tried again, but this time with a French Lop doe and Netherland Dwarf buck. The offspring were then bred to an English Lop because their ears were not lopping as hoped and those offspring were bred back to the original offspring. Many years of successful matings with the ears lopping nicely and the bodyweights decreasing significantly from 7lbs to under 3lbs, the Holland Lop were well on their way. In 1964, the breed was recognized by the Netherlands Governing Rabbit Council. In 1976, the dwarf lop was brought over to the U.S. and subsequently recognized by the ARBA in 1979.
Holland Lops are shown in 2 classes - Solid OR Broken (solid color broken up by white).
The following description is taken from The Standard of Perfection for Holland Lops:
NOTE: Holland Lops should be posed with the front feet resting lightly on the table. When ideally posed and viewed from the front, the head should be carried high on the shoulders, and close to the shoulders, exposing a deep, well filled chest and short, thick front legs. Holland Lops should not be pushed down with the forelegs flat on the table. Holland Lops are generally of an excitable nature and will often exhibit poor ear carriage when being handled on the show table. In order to properly evaluate an animal's ear carriage, the animal should be allowed to relax.
BODY--Points 32: The general aspect of the body is short, massive, and thick set. The shoulders and chest should be broad and well filled. The shoulders should be deep, with the depth exhibited at the shoulders of an ideally posed animal being carried back to hindquarters of equal or slightly greater depth. The width of the shoulders should be nearly equal to, but not exceed the width of the hindquarters. The hindquarters should be broad, deep, well rounded, and well filled to the lower portions. The animals is to be heavily muscled, short-coupled, compact, and well balanced is length, width, and depth. A small, simple dewlap is permitted in does. Faults--Lacking depth throughout the body; long, low or narrow shoulders; chopped, pinched, or undercut hindquarters flatness over the hips; large dewlap in does. Cut severly for long or narrow body.
HEAD--Points 24: When viewed from the front, the head is to have good width, which begins at the base of the ears and carries down between the eyes to an extremely short and well filled muzzle. When viewed from the side, the head is round from the base of the ears, to a slight flattening between the eyes and the muzle and then to continue rounding from the lower portion to the muzzle to the neck. The eye is to be bold and deep set. The head is to be massive in appearance and set high and close to the shoulders. The size of the head is to be in proportion to the size of the body. Faults--Pinched muzzle; narowness between the eyes; head too small to balance with the body. Cut severly for narrow or long head.
EARS--Points 10: The ears should lop vertically on both sides of the head from a strongly defined and properly positioned crown. The ears should hang close to the cheeks, with the openings turned towards the head. When viewed from the front, the outline of the ears and crown should resemble a horseshoe shape. The ears should be thick, well furred, wide and well rounded at the tips. The ears should hang just behind the eyes and extend no more than 1 inch below the jaw line. Ear length and width should balance with the size of the head and body. Faults--Pointed, narrow, thin or folded ear; poor ear carriage or placement; ear length which does not balance with the size of the animal
BONE, FEET & LEGS--Points 10: The legs are to be short, thick, straight an heavily boned fro the size of the animal. White toenails are preferred on Broken Pattern animals. Broken Patterned animals are not to be disqualified for colored or mismatched toenails. Faults--Colored or mismatched toenails on Broken patterned animals. Cut severely for long legs, narrow legs, or fine bone Disqualifications from Competition--General toenail disqualifications apply on Solid Pattern animals. General toenail disqualifications, except toenail color, apply on Broken Pattern animals. FUR--Points 7: (Rollback) The fur is to be glossy, dense, fine in texture, and uniform in length. The fur is to be approzimately 1 inch in length and is to gradually rol back into normal position when it is stroked from the hindquarters to the shoulders.
COLOR & MARKINGS--Points 4: All colors shoudl conform to one of the recognized Holland Lop Color Guide descriptions. The Solid pattern classification includes al recognized colors within the recognized groups. The Broken pattern classification includes all recognized colors within the recognized groups in combination with white. Faults--Broken pattern animals--Unbalanced nose markings; white on one or both ears incomplete eye cirlces uneven patern distribution Solid pattern aniamls--Faults are as specified under each color description Disqualifications from Competition--
--Broken pattern animals--The complete absence of nose markings, absence of color on one or both ears, absence of color around one or both eyes. Eye color other than specified in the color description
Their maximum weight limit is 4 pounds. They are the smallest of the 5 lop breeds and are considered a "dwarf" lop. Because of this dwarf gene, they sometimes can have an aggressive nature, but can also make great pets and many are as laid back and loving in nature as the mini lop generally is.
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