History of the American Fuzzy Lop

Origin:
When you look at the history of the American Fuzzy Lop you also have to peak at the history of the Holland Lop. These two breeds are interwoven together.

In the beginning the Holland Lop had only solid colors. There were breeders that wanted to add the broken patterns so they bred their Holland Lops to English spots. They did achieve their goal of producing a broken pattern but they were unable to keep the rollback fur that Hollands must have. The offspring have the flyback fur that English Spots must have instead.

Still trying to achieve the goal of rollback fur they then bred the Holland Lops to French Angoras. French Angoras have a very gentle rollback coat. As a result of these manipulations the wool gene had been introduced to the Holland Lop gene pool. A Holland with long wool was occasionally found in Holland Lop litters.

Patty Greene-Karl and Gary Fellers of the east coast and Kim Landry and Margaret Miller of the west coast saw something in these little fuzzy Hollands. Patty decided to develop these little fuzzy Hollands as a new breed. Naming them American Fuzzy Lop she worked for 4 years to develop what she thought was worthy to present at convention. She presented her rabbits for the first time in Houston at the 1985 ARBA Convention. Three different standards for wooled lops were received from 3 different individuals, but only the Standard for American Fuzzy Lop presented by Patty was granted a working standard. At the 1987 convention in Portland OR the American Fuzzy Lop did not pass. Committee stated a lack of uniformity from one animal to another. As requested by Patty, John Harden wrote a new working standard which was accepted. In 1988 in Madison, WI The American Fuzzy Lop became a new recognized breed.

Today:
In the original working standard it called for a maximum weight of 4 ¾ lbs with an ideal weight of 3 ¾ lbs. Today’s standard is still basically a wooled Holland with an maximum weight of 4 lbs and an ideal weight of 3 ½ lbs. Visit the American Fuzzy Lop Rabbit Club to view more pictures and facts about this really cute rabbit.
 

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