03/05/2023
By Jeff Hardin:
"Glad to offer my perspective. I’ve been judging here in the USA since 1982 and judging in Europe since 1983. I was one of the two main importers of the Holland Lop breed from The Netherlands and breed them successfully with many National wins in the breed during the years I had them. I’ve helped with foundation stock for both the new Czech Frosty breed and all of the foundation stock for the new Blue Holicer breed.
In the 1980s, I wrote the first accepted Standard for the American Fuzzy Lop breed for the originator of the breed here in the USA, Patty Greene-Karl.
So I’ve had a lot of experience with judging in Europe and the USA as well as helping get European and new breed’s established in the USA.
One clarification, the ARBA protocol for admitting new breeds doesn’t specify that the new breed must have a specific number of differences from existing breeds. The ARBA says, “A proposed new breed, must possess qualifications of individual merit, unique to itself, identifying it as a separate and distinct breed, These animals shall not be a breed already recognized in the SOP with only a changed coat structure or altered ear carriage.”
While the “Plush Lop” might be looked upon as being a “new breed” in the USA, globally, this is not a “New Breed.” It a breed that is included in the rabbit judging Standards of many European countries and it’s a breed that has a single breed Standard in the European Association. What is referred to as a
“Plush Lop” in the USA, is actually an established Foreign Breed that has been standardized in Europe and has a specific European Standard which is used to judge the animals from all of the European counties at the European Shows. The breed is known as the Zwergwidder-Rexe (Dwarf Lop-Rex) in the European Standard as well as in many individual European country Standards.
The Holland Lop breed in the USA is an American manifestation of the original Netherlandse HangoorDwerg (Netherland Dwarf Lop) that was originally imported from The Netherlands to the USA in the 1970s. It’s characteristics are different from the hundreds of original animals that were imported and it’s characteristics are different from the Nederlandse HangoorDwerg breed currently being bred in The Netherlands and also different from the Dwarf Lop breed being bred in the other European countries.
That being said, the “Plush Lop” or the Zwergwidder-Rexe is not going to be a Holland Lop with Rex fur.
Also, as a result of the short Rex hair, the individual body features of the Plush Lop” or the Zwergwidder-Rexe appear more clearly than with a normal-haired Dwarf Lop. This must be taken into account when assessing the shape of this breed.
Having Rex fur and having been developed from European Dwarf Lops, the appearance of the head shape will not look like the
Holland Lop head shape which is dependent in part upon its longer fur which contributes to impressions of fullness and boldness. The head will or should, however, be a pronounced Lop-like head, which has to be short and strong with a wide, well-developed muzzle and strong jawbones as well as a broad forehead and a beautiful Roman nose. The eyes are large and not set too deep.
The Plush Lop” or the Zwergwidder-Rexe also has a larger weight range than a Holland Lop being 2.64 lbs to 4,84 lbs (1.2 kg to 2.2kg).
Just like the new rabbit breeds of Czech Frosty and the Blue Holicer are being developed in the USA as Foreign recognized and standardized rabbit breeds, it would be logical to do the same for the Plush Lop” or the Zwergwidder-Rexe. There’s really no need to reinvent the wheel when there is a breed that has already achieved a standardized breed recognition throughout Europe.
