National French and Dwarf Lop Club - UK

Although the French Lop and its miniature counterpart, the Dwarf Lop have been popular on the Continent for many years, it was not until the late 1970s that they really gained recognition in Britain.

Both breeds are catered for by one club The National French and Dwarf Lop Club. It is the National Club that controls the destinies of both breeds, being responsible for their Breed Standards, and compiling a list of judges qualified to judge to those standards.

In addition to the National Club there are also three regional clubs, namely the Northern, Midland and Southern Lop Circles, who run shows for the French and Dwarf Lop, as well as the indigenous English Lop.

Whilst the two breeds in Britain have one parent club to control their destinies their histories are very different.

It was said to have evolved from the crossing of lop eared rabbits with the Giant Normande breed. The result was a huge lop-eared rabbit, mainly Agouti in colour, with a good growth rate thus making it eminently suitable as a meat producer.

The breed's unusual appearance and huge size were probably responsible for its rapid spread into the neighbouring countries of Germany, Holland and Belgium, where it gained many supporters, and became even more popular than in its native land. These countries also adopted the native standards of excellence.

Its entry into Britain was in 1933, when ten rabbits from Holland were exhibited at the old Crystal Palace Show. The judges of the day apparently passed them over, and it was another 30 years before British fanciers were to acquaint themselves with this popular continental variety.

During the 1960s British fanciers, visiting the large shows on the continent, greatly admired the breed. Meg Brown first imported a French Lop buck from France, to improve her English Lops and later imported stock from Belgium of German origin. She also translated the Breed Standard which was accepted by the British Rabbit Council.

At first the breed had a difficult passage before becoming established in Britain. The newly formed British International Standards Rabbit Club, was the umbrella club for both French and Dwarf Lops, as well as some other recently imported breeds.

A shared parent club, a breed standard, and one annual specialist show did not appear to help and at first progress was slow.

During this time, the native Lop now known as the English lop had become very low numerically. Very few specimens were seen at shows.

Some judges appeared a little puzzled, when confronted on the judging table with the newly imported French Lops and seemed to look upon them as inferior length English Lops. At the same time the name Dwarf Lop, conjured up in the minds of judges, a rabbit such as the diminutive Netherland Dwarf. These two factors probably created a barrier, which the two imported breeds found it hard to break through initially.

The National Lop Club which had catered solely for the English Lop was approached, and took both breeds under its wing. This had a good effect on all three breeds for, slowly but surely, club judges appreciated the differences in the members of the Lop 'tribe'. The rest of the fancy noticed, and began to follow their lead.

The French and Dwarf Lops withdrew from the British International Standards Club; but were still allocated classes at the Club's Annual Show.

The two breed's association with the National Lop Club lasted but a few years. As more and more enthusiasts were attracted to the two newer varieties, the huge French Lop in particular began to make its presence felt. Its prolific nature and easier breeding meant that soon its numbers overtook the English Lops being shown.

French and Dwarf Lop breeders felt that there would never be a Best in Show Award at a Club show catering for three different breeds. A common award would only be on individual preference for a breed, when two or three exhibits of equal merit, but of differing standards, met in competition.

The National Lop Club owned a marvelous array of trophies, all allocated to different and specific ear length classes. They were not applicable to breeds where ear lengths were not measured.

During the mid 1970s breeding stock was in short supply. This was partly due to the ban which the Ministry of Agriculture had imposed on the importation of rabbits into Great Britain. It was also partly due to the increasing popularity and consequent demand for stock.

The French Lop was, at last, gaining recognition from British judges, and becoming successful on the show table.

Kathleen Gordon, had the distinction of being the owner of the first French Lop to gain a BRC Gold Star Diploma this rabbit had been bred by Meg Brown from her first import.

Peter Ralphes also with stock descended from the original, bred a buck in 1974 (Monsieur D'or) which also achieved a similar award a few months later. This rabbit was the first French to win overall Best in Show at a Three Star Show, at Birmingham, under the popular all round judges George Spooner and Jack Power. This may have been one of the boosts the breed needed.

In January 1977 the National French and Dwarf Lop Club was formed the two breeds decided to 'go it alone'. It says much for the interest created that, by the end of its first year, the club had held three successful Club shows and boasted a membership of over 100. The following year the membership was doubled. The club, led by their enthusiastic secretary Reg Jones, was a great success. There was now no doubt that the two new breeds had made their presence felt in Britain, and were here to stay.

The new National Club, held its first show barely four months after the inaugural meeting. Held at Newark in May 1977 it was aptly judged by George Scott, the man who had been responsible for organising those Continental visits ten years earlier and which culminated in the successful introduction of the breeds into Britain.

The show attracted 40 French Lops and Six Dwarf Lops. The award for Best in Show went to Monsieur D'or, whilst a Fawn Dwarf Lop bred by the same breeder from stock originally imported by the judge was awarded best Dwarf Lop.

The French Lop helped play an important role in the consolidating of the breed in this country. In the Young Stock Show held at St Neots, a son of his won Best in Show, with other progeny both bucks and does in the cards. He also won Best of Breed at the London Championship Show later that year, from amongst 60 exhibits. All rabbits were weighed that day for the first time at a show, the winner at 15 lbs 8ozs was also the heaviest. After winning Best of Breed at Bradford, the following year he was retired from the show scene.

His progeny, helped towards the stock of many studs in the following years.

Another strain of completely different breeding and colour was climbing the ladder to success. The fanciers knew of the existence of Mr. Grotchen, a German gentleman, living in the South of England. He had bred French Lops before the war and had returned to his native country after the war and brought back the best specimens he could find. He was not really an exhibitor, but supplied stock to Reg Jones (the first Club Secretary) and later to others. These were magnificent specimens of the breed with massive skulls and lovely type. The colour was agouti and white, in the pattern laid down by the old National Lop Club in the footnote on marked rabbits.

Footnote; Marked specimens can be of any of these colours. The white markings round the nose to be such that leave a distinct butterfly smut or as the shading on a Sooty Fawn. The white should extend upwards from the chin and chest over the shoulders, with two spots, one each side of the shoulders, called shoulder spots. No white to be present in the general body colouring. The belly to be white and similar to the tan on the Tan rabbit but not brindled up the sides of the body.

The ear carriage was perhaps not quite as good as the other strains, being a little shorter and narrower, but they were very impressive rabbits.

Another breeder with a different strain was Jim Porter. He had introduced some excellent French Lops from Denmark known there as Danish Landrace. They were well boned and of very good type and coat making them another source of breeding material and much sought after. Again, perhaps they were a little short in ear, and occasionally did not lop correctly taking several months to reach correct position. Unfortunately, Jim Porter went out of rabbits at the same time the National Club was formed and a source of new blood was lost.

The three strains were responsible for the formation of the breed. Many successful rabbits were bred from the combining of the Grotchen and Ralphes strains, with new colours evolving from the crossing.

The ear shape, ear carriage and crown found in some of today's winning stock are a direct result of the influence of Mr. Grotchen's strain.

THE DWARF LOP

The Dwarf Lop has a different and somewhat shorter history than its larger brother. In fact it is a much more recently created breed and is the result of crossing French Lops with Dwarf rabbits. The breed was evolved about 1950 by Dutch breeders and Holland is renowned for its miniaturisation of different breeds. The Netherland Dwarf rabbit has won acclaim the world over and the old Dutch bantam, a miniature fowl, is popular in many countries.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the idea of producing a small replica of the massive and popular continental breed, the French Lop, was conceived and carried out in Holland.

British fanciers first saw the new breed at the Utrecht Show in 1968 it weighed about four pounds and aroused much interest, George Scott was one of the first to import some of them in 1970.

Shortly after this the Ministry ban prevented further importation to Britain. The first rabbits proved a little disappointing, many grew too large, whilst others had ears which refused to 'Lop' and were carried in a variety of incorrect positions. It says much for the breeding skills and patience of British breeders that slowly the Dwarf Lops resembling the standard laid down for them began to emerge. This improvement was at first slow.

By 1972 no new stock could be imported and breeders had to rely on existing stock. The progress was not as rapid as that of the French Lop. When the National Breed Club was formed in 1977, many breeders sought to change the size of the ring. Despite many requests to the BRC they were informed that the answer lay with the breeder to produce stock to fit the standard. This seemingly hard line eventually paid dividends and, as the breed became more popular, fewer overweight and oversized rabbits were seen on the exhibition table. The breed had great charm and appealed to British fanciers. It is a lively breed unlike the rather lethargic French Lop. Many fanciers without the facilities and room to keep a large lopped breed fell for the obvious charms and more accommodating size of the Dwarf Lop. Numbers at shows began to increase.

Despite its popularity, the Dwarf Lop was not to achieve the same success at shows as the French. There were a number of reasons for this, probably the most important one being that the breed had not yet achieved the excellence, and did not match up to the breed standard, in the same way as the French Lop. Too many of the Dwarf Lops in the mid 70s did not have the massive skull or required body shape, whilst ears and ear carriage left much to be desired. Meanwhile, the Dutch breeders were still improving the breed. Exhibits were seen in Holland weighing as little as two and a half pounds, and yet showing the type required. In I978 Angio Chiesa, imported 8 of these improved rabbits. They had to spend six months in quarantine. During this period some were lost, but credit must go to Mr. Chiesa, for the work he put in, both in breeding and distributing these new importations all over the country. At first there was much controversy over these imports, many cried that they were of the wrong type resembling Netherland Dwarfs. Their weight, too, was criticized as being less than the minimum three and a half pounds set out in the standard. Mr. Chiesa put this to the test when he exhibited several at the adult stock show in Coventry in 1979 and won overall Best in Show Award with a Sooty Fawn which weighed three and three quarter pounds. This was the forerunner of more successes for the breed. The introduction of new blood had certainly paid off. In 1980 a Dwarf
Lop did well against other Fancy Breeds at the Bradford Championship Show. The year 1981 saw quite a few Best in Show Awards achieved by the Dwarf Lops and in some parts of the country, more are now exhibited than the French Lop. The charm and character of the breed has endeared it to many who baulk at the sheer size of the giant French.

CREDIT: The above extract is from the book:

Read about Rabbits No4 French and Dwarf Lops By Peter Ralphes



	ABOUT US HISTORY Although the French Lop and its miniature counterpart, the Dwarf Lop have been popular on the Continent for many years, it was not until the late 1970s that they really gained recognition in Britain. Both breeds are catered for by one club The National French and Dwarf Lop Club. It is the National Club that controls the destinies of both breeds, being responsible for their Breed Standards, and compiling a list of judges qualified to judge to those standards. In addition to the National Club there are also three regional clubs, namely the Northern, Midland and Southern Lop Circles, who run shows for the French and Dwarf Lop, as well as the indigenous English Lop. Whilst the two breeds in Britain have one parent club to control their destinies their histories are very different. THE FRENCH LOP The French Lop was first noted in its native country about 1850. It was said to have evolved from the crossing of lop eared rabbits with the Giant Normande breed. The result was a huge lop-eared rabbit, mainly Agouti in colour, with a good growth rate thus making it eminently suitable as a meat producer. The breed's unusual appearance and huge size were probably responsible for its rapid spread into the neighbouring countries of Germany, Holland and Belgium, where it gained many supporters, and became even more popular than in its native land. These countries also adopted the native standards of excellence. Its entry into Britain was in 1933, when ten rabbits from Holland were exhibited at the old Crystal Palace Show. The judges of the day apparently passed them over, and it was another 30 years before British fanciers were to acquaint themselves with this popular continental variety. During the 1960s British fanciers, visiting the large shows on the continent, greatly admired the breed. Meg Brown first imported a French Lop buck from France, to improve her English Lops and later imported stock from Belgium of German origin. She also translated the Breed Standard which was accepted by the British Rabbit Council. At first the breed had a difficult passage before becoming established in Britain. The newly formed British International Standards Rabbit Club, was the umbrella club for both French and Dwarf Lops, as well as some other recently imported breeds. A shared parent club, a breed standard, and one annual specialist show did not appear to help and at first progress was slow. During this time, the native Lop now known as the English lop had become very low numerically. Very few specimens were seen at shows. Some judges appeared a little puzzled, when confronted on the judging table with the newly imported French Lops and seemed to look upon them as inferior length English Lops. At the same time the name Dwarf Lop, conjured up in the minds of judges, a rabbit such as the diminutive Netherland Dwarf. These two factors probably created a barrier, which the two imported breeds found it hard to break through initially. The National Lop Club which had catered solely for the English Lop was approached, and took both breeds under its wing. This had a good effect on all three breeds for, slowly but surely, club judges appreciated the differences in the members of the Lop 'tribe'. The rest of the fancy noticed, and began to follow their lead. The French and Dwarf Lops withdrew from the British International Standards Club; but were still allocated classes at the Club's Annual Show. The two breed's association with the National Lop Club lasted but a few years. As more and more enthusiasts were attracted to the two newer varieties, the huge French Lop in particular began to make its presence felt. Its prolific nature and easier breeding meant that soon its numbers overtook the English Lops being shown. French and Dwarf Lop breeders felt that there would never be a Best in Show Award at a Club show catering for three different breeds. A common award would only be on individual preference for a breed, when two or three exhibits of equal merit, but of differing standards, met in competition. The National Lop Club owned a marvelous array of trophies, all allocated to different and specific ear length classes. They were not applicable to breeds where ear lengths were not measured. During the mid 1970s breeding stock was in short supply. This was partly due to the ban which the Ministry of Agriculture had imposed on the importation of rabbits into Great Britain. It was also partly due to the increasing popularity and consequent demand for stock. The French Lop was, at last, gaining recognition from British judges, and becoming successful on the show table. Kathleen Gordon, had the distinction of being the owner of the first French Lop to gain a BRC Gold Star Diploma this rabbit had been bred by Meg Brown from her first import. Peter Ralphes also with stock descended from the original, bred a buck in 1974 (Monsieur D'or) which also achieved a similar award a few months later. This rabbit was the first French to win overall Best in Show at a Three Star Show, at Birmingham, under the popular all round judges George Spooner and Jack Power. This may have been one of the boosts the breed needed. In January 1977 the National French and Dwarf Lop Club was formed the two breeds decided to 'go it alone'. It says much for the interest created that, by the end of its first year, the club had held three successful Club shows and boasted a membership of over 100. The following year the membership was doubled. The club, led by their enthusiastic secretary Reg Jones, was a great success. There was now no doubt that the two new breeds had made their presence felt in Britain, and were here to stay. The new National Club, held its first show barely four months after the inaugural meeting. Held at Newark in May 1977 it was aptly judged by George Scott, the man who had been responsible for organising those Continental visits ten years earlier and which culminated in the successful introduction of the breeds into Britain. The show attracted 40 French Lops and Six Dwarf Lops. The award for Best in Show went to Monsieur D'or, whilst a Fawn Dwarf Lop bred by the same breeder from stock originally imported by the judge was awarded best Dwarf Lop. The French Lop helped play an important role in the consolidating of the breed in this country. In the Young Stock Show held at St Neots, a son of his won Best in Show, with other progeny both bucks and does in the cards. He also won Best of Breed at the London Championship Show later that year, from amongst 60 exhibits. All rabbits were weighed that day for the first time at a show, the winner at 15 lbs 8ozs was also the heaviest. After winning Best of Breed at Bradford, the following year he was retired from the show scene. His progeny, helped towards the stock of many studs in the following years. Another strain of completely different breeding and colour was climbing the ladder to success. The fanciers knew of the existence of Mr. Grotchen, a German gentleman, living in the South of England. He had bred French Lops before the war and had returned to his native country after the war and brought back the best specimens he could find. He was not really an exhibitor, but supplied stock to Reg Jones (the first Club Secretary) and later to others. These were magnificent specimens of the breed with massive skulls and lovely type. The colour was agouti and white, in the pattern laid down by the old National Lop Club in the footnote on marked rabbits. Footnote; Marked specimens can be of any of these colours. The white markings round the nose to be such that leave a distinct butterfly smut or as the shading on a Sooty Fawn. The white should extend upwards from the chin and chest over the shoulders, with two spots, one each side of the shoulders, called shoulder spots. No white to be present in the general body colouring. The belly to be white and similar to the tan on the Tan rabbit but not brindled up the sides of the body. The ear carriage was perhaps not quite as good as the other strains, being a little shorter and narrower, but they were very impressive rabbits. Another breeder with a different strain was Jim Porter. He had introduced some excellent French Lops from Denmark known there as Danish Landrace. They were well boned and of very good type and coat making them another source of breeding material and much sought after. Again, perhaps they were a little short in ear, and occasionally did not lop correctly taking several months to reach correct position. Unfortunately, Jim Porter went out of rabbits at the same time the National Club was formed and a source of new blood was lost. The three strains were responsible for the formation of the breed. Many successful rabbits were bred from the combining of the Grotchen and Ralphes strains, with new colours evolving from the crossing. The ear shape, ear carriage and crown found in some of today's winning stock are a direct result of the influence of Mr. Grotchen's strain. THE DWARF LOP The Dwarf Lop has a different and somewhat shorter history than its larger brother. In fact it is a much more recently created breed and is the result of crossing French Lops with Dwarf rabbits. The breed was evolved about 1950 by Dutch breeders and Holland is renowned for its miniaturisation of different breeds. The Netherland Dwarf rabbit has won acclaim the world over and the old Dutch bantam, a miniature fowl, is popular in many countries. Therefore, it is not surprising that the idea of producing a small replica of the massive and popular continental breed, the French Lop, was conceived and carried out in Holland. British fanciers first saw the new breed at the Utrecht Show in 1968 it weighed about four pounds and aroused much interest, George Scott was one of the first to import some of them in 1970. Shortly after this the Ministry ban prevented further importation to Britain. The first rabbits proved a little disappointing, many grew too large, whilst others had ears which refused to 'Lop' and were carried in a variety of incorrect positions. It says much for the breeding skills and patience of British breeders that slowly the Dwarf Lops resembling the standard laid down for them began to emerge. This improvement was at first slow. By 1972 no new stock could be imported and breeders had to rely on existing stock. The progress was not as rapid as that of the French Lop. When the National Breed Club was formed in 1977, many breeders sought to change the size of the ring. Despite many requests to the BRC they were informed that the answer lay with the breeder to produce stock to fit the standard. This seemingly hard line eventually paid dividends and, as the breed became more popular, fewer overweight and oversized rabbits were seen on the exhibition table. The breed had great charm and appealed to British fanciers. It is a lively breed unlike the rather lethargic French Lop. Many fanciers without the facilities and room to keep a large lopped breed fell for the obvious charms and more accommodating size of the Dwarf Lop. Numbers at shows began to increase. Despite its popularity, the Dwarf Lop was not to achieve the same success at shows as the French. There were a number of reasons for this, probably the most important one being that the breed had not yet achieved the excellence, and did not match up to the breed standard, in the same way as the French Lop. Too many of the Dwarf Lops in the mid 70s did not have the massive skull or required body shape, whilst ears and ear carriage left much to be desired. Meanwhile, the Dutch breeders were still improving the breed. Exhibits were seen in Holland weighing as little as two and a half pounds, and yet showing the type required. In I978 Angio Chiesa, imported 8 of these improved rabbits. They had to spend six months in quarantine. During this period some were lost, but credit must go to Mr. Chiesa, for the work he put in, both in breeding and distributing these new importations all over the country. At first there was much controversy over these imports, many cried that they were of the wrong type resembling Netherland Dwarfs. Their weight, too, was criticized as being less than the minimum three and a half pounds set out in the standard. Mr. Chiesa put this to the test when he exhibited several at the adult stock show in Coventry in 1979 and won overall Best in Show Award with a Sooty Fawn which weighed three and three quarter pounds. This was the forerunner of more successes for the breed. The introduction of new blood had certainly paid off. In 1980 a Dwarf Lop did well against other Fancy Breeds at the Bradford Championship Show. The year 1981 saw quite a few Best in Show Awards achieved by the Dwarf Lops and in some parts of the country, more are now exhibited than the French Lop. The charm and character of the breed has endeared it to many who baulk at the sheer size of the giant French. CREDIT: The above extract is from the book: Read about Rabbits No4 French and Dwarf Lops By Peter Ralphes