Do It For All The Right Reasons

Looking at the frequency of my blog update, you can guess how busy I am. Yes, I am really tied up at the moment with many things on hand. But nonetheless, even during my busy schedule, I do observe happenings in the rabbit world (in Malaysia) that causes a little disappointment (that’s if I really care that much).

I did write about the influx in Show Rabbit importation a few months back before the avalanche of the show fever hit Malaysia. 4th June 2011, is a date to look forward to by many enthusiasts. The show entries has been increasing slowly and steadily.

I just wanted to share my personal thoughts on importation of Show Quality animals. Recalling back to the first time I imported a rabbit, my #1 reason to do so was to start off a good herd of rabbits. I have no intention to show or whatsoever as there isn’t any rabbit show in Malaysia at that time. If there were, I would participate just for the fun of it and see where I stand with my stocks and continue working with them (all in the name of hobby).

Fast forward today, I see rabbit selling by the number of legs. Doesn’t make sense to me at all. Who are we cheating here? OURSELVES. How can this hobby be sustainable, I have mentioned many times before, it needs to be fuelled by passion. Passion for what? Passion for Winning, Passion for Money or Passion for Fame? HELL NO!

Passion for developing the “PERFECT” rabbit “NEAREST” to the “STANDARD OF PERFECTION”. Is the standard of perfection a mere illusion of our imagination? It saddens me today that new hobbyists are oblivious to the SOP which has been written down so clearly and completely. They also depend on others to judge the soundness of their rabbits instead of having their own opinion and judgment. SOP is one and interpretation of it is another. Each human being have a unique mind of its own and thus, may have different interpretation of the standard.

“I am special and so are you!”

I am not questioning the creditability and honour given to judges to officially state their opinions on rabbits that they judge. I am really saying that at the end of the day, all human beings have the right to have their opinions, preferences and idea how a perfect rabbit should be. I am also not denying the fact that the more GC legs a rabbit has, the nearer it is to the standard. But it must not end just here, what is this rabbit used for is utmost important.

That being said and coming back to my point, I do not deny the fact that winning at a show may earn you some points but what’s next? Here are some questions I ask myself constantly while working with my herd of rabbits:

1. If Grand Champs guarantees grand champ offspring(babies), why are top winning breeders not topping the charts every single year?

2. Why winners are different under different judges?

3. Why are breeders still breeding to win?

4. Why are some breeders out of the chart altogether after placing average in a certain show year?

I would like to answer this one before I forget. You see, for some, the reason for winning is to gain a fast reputation to pull off a quick sale. Normally breeder like these would churn out as much rabbits regardless of quality and sell them off using their short-lived winnings. Truth be told, they last as much as the money can sustain them. They will reappear when the money silo is low.

5. The questions get simpler. I always ask myself why can’t I make copies of my best rabbits in my herd.

What I am trying to say is that, winning and losing will never last. Winners will never win forever and losers will never lose forever. Every dog has its day so they say…

With all due respect, buying off Grand Champions to continue the winning streak is like cheating in an examination – cheating of oneself that is. I know many breeders will hate me for that statement or at least most will disagree with me. A rabbit really only have 4 legs, mind you but many will also disagree with me on this (:P).

There is a craze to collect rabbits with many legs. THIS IS SO WRONG! All a rabbit needs to be a Grand Champion is only obtaining 3 GC legs. The extra legs are just icing on top of the cake. How many Grand Champion (GC) Certificate do you think a rabbit can obtain? 21 GC Legs DO NOT EQUATE to 7 certificates!

WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! SALAH! SALAH! SALAH!

What is the real deal here? Why are we in this hobby then?

You must not be a collector of Rabbits with GC legs BUT, a breeder that produces Rabbits that collect GC legs. Please read that statement many times over as it is even confused to myself – LOL.

In my humble opinion, below are just what a real breeder’s objectives should be (far reaching ones too):

1) Building a winning herd that has at least 8 generations of rabbits holding the rabbitry’s prefix – one’s own rabbit lineage

2) Taking pride in “Granding” home grown rabbits

But alas, as long we are humans with different and unique thinking and opinion, these will never materialize. And most importantly, we shall all have fun admiring all rabbits 50 legs, 100 legs or even 1000 legs.