Mini Lops

History

The origin of the Mini Lop began in 1967, when Bob Herschbach first saw them at the German National Rabbit Show held in Essen, Germany. These lop rabbits were known as Klein Widder. The Klein Widder was developed out of the German Big Lop and their small Chinchilla. There were two varieties, White and Agouti.

The Klein Widder had beautiful heads and god ears, which the Germans are noted for. However, their bodies were long and narrow and their weight was over eight and a half pounds. Only twenty Klein Widders existed in Germany at this time, with eleven of them entered at this show.

Mr. Herschbach brought a trio, consisting of an Agouti pair and a White doe, home with him to California and set about to produce more “dwarf” lops in other colors. He used a broken French Lop and Standard Chinchilla in his first breeding. His first litters were solid colors with the broken colors coming in second generations. Thus began a long process of select breeding as size reduction takes time and is difficult to control because of inbreeding.

The first Klein Wdders developed by Mr. Herschbach were shown at the 1974 American Rabbit Breeders Convention in Ventura, California by Mr. Herschbach. He reported they did not create much interest and he concluded that this was because they still were not small enough and their name was not appealing. After the convention, he changed the name of the lops to “Mini Lop” and continued efforts to improve the breed by giving several pairs to other breeders, and by 1977 gave the sponsorship of the Mini Lop breed to Herb Dyke.

In 1978, Herb Dyke and Bob Herschbach started a correspondence club with the first officers being: President-Herb Dyke, Vice President-Craig Carpenter, Secretary/Treasurer-Sherry Rollema, with Bob Herschbach as their advisor. Within a year, they had over 500 members who had contacted the ARBA with support for the Mini Lop Rabbit.

Standard of the Mini Lop

Groups: Agouti-Broken-Pointed White-Self-Shaded-Ticked-Wide Band

Points:
General Type		80
Body	............	43
Head	............	16
Ears	............	16
Feet and Legs	............	5
Fur	............	10
Color and Markings	............	5
Condition	............	5
Total Points		100

To be entered and shown in two classifications:
Solid Pattern-Broken Pattern

Showroom Classes and Weights:
Senior Bucks - 6 months of age and over, weight 4 1/2 to 6 1/2 pounds.  Ideal weight 5 1/2 pounds.

Senior Does - 6 months of age and over, weight 4 1/2 to 6 1/2 pounds.  Ideal weight 6 pounds.

Junior Bucks and Does - Under 6 months of age, weight not over 6 pounds.

*Note  No animal may be shown in a higher age classification than its true age.  No animal may be shown in a lower age classification than its true age.

*Note  It is the utmost of importance that a Mini Lop be properly posed.  When properly posed, the toes of the front feet will be resting just under the cheeks, and even with the eyes.  The toes on the rear feet will be even with the haunch or thigh joints.  If the rear feet are pushed up under the belly or rib section, the rabbit is not posed properly and cannot be accurately evaluated.

Faults - Long, narrow body; flatness over shoulders or hips; chopped off or undercut hindquarters; any specimen that shows raciness; large dewlap on does.

Head - The head is to be strong developed and sturdy, without being too narrow.  It is to be wider in bucks and finer in does.  The head is to be set closely on the shoulders, with the neck as short as possible.  The crown of the head is to be boldly arched.  There should be a slight curvature of the skull from the base of the crown towards the nose.  The head should be bold and balanced with the rest of the body.

Faults - Long, narrow head; pointed nose.

Ears - Ears are to be well placed on top of the head, rising from a strong basal ridge, and lopping vertically on both sides of the head.  The ears should hang close to the cheeks, with the ear openings turned toward the head.  The outline of the ears and crown should resemble a horseshoe shape.  The length and width of ear are to be in proportion, and balance with the size of the head and body.  The ears should be well furred and well rounded at their extremities.

Faults - Poor ear carriage; narrow ears; very thick or very thin ears; folds in ear; ear openings turned away from head.

Feet & Legs - Legs are to be thick, short, and straight.  Toenails in the Broken Pattern group may be either light or dark; a difference in pigmentation between rear and front toenails is permitted, but all front toenails should match and all rear toenails should match.

Faults - Unmatched toenails in the Broken Pattern group.

Disqualification from Competition - General toenail color disqualifications apply on all Solid Pattern animals.

Fur - (Rollback)  Coat is to be glossy, lustrous, uniform, medium in length, very thick and dense, and with a good rollback.

Faults - Coat which is silky; long and harsh; long and thin; extremely short.

Color and Markings - Solid Pattern is to include all recognized groups.  The Broken Pattern is to include any recognized color within a recognized group in conjunction with white.  A butterfly pattern with wings outlined in white on the muzzle area of the face, solid color circle around each eye, and solid colored ears are preferred.  Body color should be evenly distributed in patched or blanketed markings.  On Broken Pattern, the front feet should be white, with elbow spots desirable.  The rear feet may be white, colored, or partially colored.  Color is to be considered only when all other points on the rabbit are equal.  The distribution of the color and markings points for the Brokens are: 2 1/2 points for color and 2 1/2 points for markings.  Eyes-Eye color to conform to the description specified in the Lop Color Guide.

Faults - Excessive white hairs in the Solid Pattern group; partial nose markings or eye circles in the Broken Group; Brokens with so much color on the face that it makes the markings indistinct are to be slightly faulted.

Disqualifications from Competition - Unmatched eyes or foreign colored spots.  Total absence any head marking on Broken Pattern animals.  Brokens with less than 10% coloration.