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| When looking at a standard, you’re probably wondering “What is this suppose to mean to me?”. To a beginner the standard can be very confusing, so I’m going to break it all down for you. Each breed has their own standard to be judged by, which is published in the ARBA’s Standard of Perfection. This book I highly recommend for anyone who plans on doing any breeding or showing with their rabbits. First we will start with the showroom classes. These are the weights. The Dutch is to show as a four class breed- having a junior buck, senior buck, junior doe, and senior buck. Juniors are under 6 months old, whereas Seniors are 6 months and over. For show, a senior is to weigh between 3 1/2- 5 1/2 pounds. It is a disqualification if they weigh more or less than those weights. Their ideal weight being 4 1/2 pounds. A junior must weigh 1 3/4 pounds before being shown. Juniors are allowed to show in a higher age class, but senior should never be shown as younger than what they really are. Now, for the Schedule of Points, each breed is divided up by a 100 points, which makes up the Schedule of Points. What they’re to be judged on the most is worth the most points. For the Dutch their Markings are worth 50 points, whereas their General Type is worth 25 points. Many judges see this and judge the Dutch mainly by their markings, thinking type isn’t important. WRONG. This is a mistake many judges make, and it makes breeders mad at them. The big thing to realize about Dutch, or any breed, is that you have to build the house before you paint it, meaning you have to have type there before you even start worring about putting on the markings, fur, color, ect on the rabbit. A rabbit that has excellent markings but has horrible type is not going to go very far on the show table. I’ve seen rabbits with not the greatest markings, but excellent type beat out the good marked rabbits with no type. Also, if you look at the individual points, you’ll notice that the body is worth 17, whereas the highest pointed marking is the cheeks which are worth only 12 points. Ok, you know what is worth the most points is what to judge by, but now what about all this other stuff? We’ll start with the General Type which is worth 25 points. Everything for this group is: Body (17 points)- The Dutch have a compact body type, meaning you want it to be very rounded and cobby. Head (5 points)- You want a rounded head, no snippy heads (narrow and long) and no bull dog heads (short and broad, sort of a square shape to it). Ears (2 points)- They should be well portioned with the head, for myself I like nice short ears on my rabbits, but not too short to look bad on the rabbit. They should be held close together. Eyes (1 point)-They should be clear and bright, with no spots or discolor to them. The Blue’s eyes should be Blue-gray, whereas the rest of the varieties should have Dark Brown eyes. The Chocolate is allowed a ruby cast. To learn more about type, make sure to check out my type page. The fur is worth 10 points. The Dutch have normal fur, that is flyback, meaning when you pet it backwards it should fly right back into place. You want it to be dense and short. The coat should have a lot of luster (brightness and brilliance) to it. The color is also worth 10 points. You should have the correct color on the rabbit. Careful on the Blacks, Blues, and Chocolates, as the sun will fade these colors. It’s best to keep them in a dark part of your rabbitry to help enhance the color. To see pictures of the different Varieties, make sure to check out my Varieties page. For descriptions of them: Black- You want a glossy, uniform jet-black color to it. It should have a slate blue undercolor (the color next to the skin). Eyes- Dark Brown Blue- You want a medium dark blue, with a slate blue undercolor. Eyes- Blue Gray Chocolate- You want a rich dark chocolate brown color, the undercolor should be a bluish dove color. Eyes- Dark Brown, ruby cast permissible Gray- This is an agouti pattern variety, meaning that the hair shaft should have three bands of color or more. The bands’ colors should be slate blue at the bottom, next a medium tan, next a thin charcoal brown band, then last a lighter tan band. It is desirable to have a narrow black lacing on the ears. When you turn the rabbit over, it should have a white belly, with a slate blue undercolor. You are to blow into the fur to see the line for the undercut. Eyes- Dark Brown Steel- This is a ticked variety. The rabbit is to be Black with an even disbursement of off white hair tips, with an undercolor of slate blue. The Steel is to look like a Black from far, till once you come up close and see that it has ticking. Tortoise- This is listed as a shaded variety, but genetically it is not. It’s to be a bright orange, with a smokey blue shading on the sides of the rabbit, and on the back of it’s bottom. The undercolor should be a dark cream color. Then for the Markings, I recommend you look at my markings page, where you can see what they’re to look like. Here’s a list of the markings: Cheeks (12 points)- You want these to be nice and rounded, free from dragging into the mouth or whisker bed. Good Cheeks are what form a good Blaze. If the cheeks are high, they’re going to make your blaze wide, whereas if the cheeks go very low and are hooked they’ll give you a narrow Blaze. Blaze (5 points)- This is the triangle on the face. It should be medium wide and wedge shaped. It should cover the nose and the whisker bed, going up to the top of the head, to the ear base. Neck (5 points)- This is also known as the Wedge. It’s on the back of the rabbit’s neck, behind the ears, it’s to be wide and wedge shaped, clean from drags and should not run up onto the ears. Hairline (0 points)- This is a small narrow line connecting the Blaze and Neck together, making the Cheeks separate. It makes the cheeks more rounder. Not all rabbits have this. It’s not a disqualification if the rabbit doesn’t have it. The standard says that it’s very desirable by judges. Saddle (10 points)- This is the line on the back where the white fur meets the colored fur. You want it to be straight. It should not be set too far back, or too far forward. Undercut (8 points)- This is a continuation of the saddle to the underside of the rabbit. Again you want this to be straight. It should not drag onto the elbows, which is called tied elbow and is a disqualification. Stops (10 points)- These are the white boots on the rabbit’s back paws. You want them to be straight and even with each other, covering 1/3 of the rabbit’s foot. If the white goes past the hock joint, this is a disqualification. If the color goes into the toes, this is called split stops and is a disqualification. Then last on the Schedule of Points is the Condition which is 5 points. This is the overall physical state of the rabbit for that it’s in good health, clean, not molting, and well groomed. I hope this helps you understand the standard better. If you have any more questions, or just want to talk rabbits feel free to email me. Copyright © 2003 Double Dutch Rabbitry |
| Note: To see the Standard for the Dutch go to the ARBA website and buy a Standard of Perfection. It's only $15 and very valuable to a rabbit breeder. This is more of an explanation for the Standard, making it easier to read for beginners. If you have a Standard, it's best to have it out to follow along with on this page. Dutch are on page 104. |
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| Background courtesy of Pam Nock |