I guess it depends. I’ve heard horror stories about the 4H barn at the fair. What kind of a show would it be? Some say you have to have intact “specimens”. Since most of us here have house bunnies, then obviously that wouldn’t be something we would do since our bunnies get spayed/neutered.

I believe it’s only for things such as 4H or for breeders at their breed shows to get ribbons or something. I don’t think it’s an actual hobby like rabbit hopping or jumping/agility.

I think showing horses is totally different as well. I think the idea of best in breed at rabbit shows is to say that your rabbit is Grand Champion something for breeding purposes rather than for just hobby or fun.

I tried getting my bunnies to jump over small things (without a harness or anything) by being led by a craisin just for fun, it’s funny and they are willing to do it but personally I wouldn’t ever try to make it a hobby or anything.

I love showing horses

After hearing about various nasty diseases going through shows, I’d be really nervous about showing. Not to mention that His Fussiness would not appreciate being put into his carrier, driven however far and then getting shoved into one of those wee show cages. He would be Not Amused, to put it lightly.

Perhaps you could try of “amateur” bunny agility. If your bun(s) is in to that sort of thing.

Or see if any there’s a Humane Society/rescue/House Rabbit Society branch near you that runs a “Hoppy Hour”. It’d be a chance for your buns to be with others and some of them run “fun run” agility events.

Quantum – Do you know of any Humane Society places in WA that do Hoppy Hour? I really want to take my Chacha to one.

I’m not aware of any here in Washington. The Tacoma Humane Society does a “Bunny Day Spa” for free for any buns, not just ones adopted from there. They send out emails if you’ve adopted from there or you can check them out on Facebook at “Society Buns”. Your bun gets a bunny massage, nail clip and scent gland cleaning. I’m actually in Olympia and there’s not much bunny related going on in my area. You might check with your local Humane Society or rescue.

It’s possible the Rabbit Meadows rescue might do something like that in the future once they get the new shelter done, but that’d be up in King County.

The only showing that I agree with is horse shows because the achievement is mostly performance based.

With rabbits (and dog, cat shows) showing and breeding go hand in hand. Its all about getting the perfect show specimen and many show breeders breed and breed until they get the perfect breed example. The rejects are usually sold so they can breed more while shelters everywhere are bursting at the seams with rabbits.

Ive never been to a rabbit show, since I dont want to support them, but I have a friend who attended one and said that all the rabbits were kept in tiny 4h sized cages all weekend. Not an ideal atmosphere. I cant imagine rabbits enjoy shows. Travelling, being in a strange, crowded place and being handled by strangers. My bunnies hate all of those things.

For shows, buns must be intact (since you’re really gauging breeding quality and nothing else – if the rabbit can’t eventually breed, there’s no reason to show).

I can see why some people like showing rabbits, but it sounds pretty dull to me, and basically requires you to breed (since, like I said, that’s the point of showing) unless you want to take a young unaltered bun a couple times, then neuter them and be done with it.

LPT- when I first started looking at bunnies I’ve actually read what some breeders do with the “imperfect”. I was scarred from there on. I personally won’t go near that lifestyle. But I can see why TanLover is curious since they are from a breeder and such.

Check out BBs Bunny Info- Monthly Maintenance. Theres a section on anal glands. The funny little diagram helped me to figure out where the scent glands are.