A Gorgeous American Fuzzy Lop

The Angora and American Fuzzy Lop (AFL) breeders are very close in our area. It was no exception at the convention, the AFL judging tables were just behind the Angora judging table. We had the chance of seeing what's going on there.

There were more than 400 AFL shown with huge classes. When the 8 first places rabbits were on the judging table, we stood there and watched the picking of the tops. Two of the 8 rabbits really stood out: a broken junior doe and a solid senior buck. Before the two judges made their decision, Betty called the winners by visual observation: BOB would be the broken junior doe and the BOS the solid senior buck.

When the judges made their announcement, the two winners were exactly the same as predicted. We also learned that the solid senior buck is the sire of the broken junior doe.

The top photo shows owner/breeder Brian H. on the left with his two winner rabbits. The judge in the middle is Tonna T. and the judge on the right is Kevin H. who later won the Best In Show in the convention with his gray Dutch junior doe. Congratulations, Kevin!

The second picture shows Brian H. with his gorgeous AFL broken junior doe. She is so perfect in every way that we predicted that she would go far in the group. Unfortunately our prediction did not come true. It's such a disappointment because this is one of the best AFL we've ever seen.

Friends from Japan

It's a big thing for breeders in the US to attend the ARBA national convention. It's even a bigger thing for breeders in Japan to attend the ARBA national convention. If anyone thinks our 8 or 9 or 10 hour flights are hard, imagine they have to make connections in four or five cities with the one way trip lasts over 25 hours. It is definitely a major event for the breeders from Japan to make it to the convention.

In the top photo, from left to right are Koichiro, Hiroyuki, Chu's Fawntana, Betty and Yumiko. Koichiro and Hiroyuki are breeders of Netherland Dwarf, American Fuzzy Lop, Holland Lop and Polish. Yumiko is a breeder of English Angora and American Fuzzy Lop. All from Japan, of course. Koichiro and Hiroyuki have attended every ARBA convention since 2000; this is Yumiko's first convention.

The second photo is Yumiko with Betty and the third photo is Yumiko with top American Fuzzy Lop breeder Carol G.

We had a great time together. Though our spoken languages are not exactly the same, but the rabbit language is universal. We all share the love for rabbits and the desire to achieve perfection.

Nathan Taylor's First Convention

The youngest participant at the ARBA convention at Fort Worth is Nathan Taylor, three weeks old.

Nathan Taylor's dad and mom are Brad and Katie. They won the Best In Show winners at the 2002 ARBA convention with their magnificent Havana. Brad is the ARBA executive director in waiting; he will be assuming the leading role at the ARBA office on January 1, 2007.

Nathan Taylor was born three weeks before the convention. Naturally he comes with dad and mom to this important function. He definitely has a lot to brag about when he grows up. He could say to another breeder, "I started my first convention at 3 weeks old. How old were you when you went to your first convention?"

Pictured here are the proud dad and mom with Nathan Taylor.

Congratulations, Brad and Katie.

Winners of Four Angora Breeds

Here are the "official" photos of the winners of the four breeds of Angora in the order judged.

Top photo shows Margaret (entered with Linda) with her BOB English Angora tort doe on the right and Betty with her BOS English Angora fawn buck on the left.

The second photo shows Jacque with her BOB French Angora white doe on the right and Alicia with her BOS French Angora black buck on the left, with judge Eric B. in the middle.

The third photo is Judy O. holding her BOB and BOS Giant Angora with judge Eric B.

The fourth photo shows judge Eric B. with the BOB Satin Angora senior doe that is bred and owned by Tracy. Tracy was not in the showroom to be included in the picture. No Satin Angora buck was entered in the show.

NCAG wishes to thank Judy R., the president of the National Angora Breeders Club, for granting the permission to use these photos. For photos of class winners, go to http://narbc.org

Betty's Six Winners at Convention

Out of eight classes of English Angora, Betty's rabbits won six classes at the ARBA convention in Texas.

The top three photos are the three senior class winners and the lower three are the junior class winners:

The first photo is fawn senior buck Chu's Fawntana, Best Opposite Sex of Breed.

The second photo is white senior doe Chu's Alexa, Best of Variety and Best White Wool.

The third photo is white senior buck Chu's Ace, Best Opposite Sex of Variety.

The fourth photo is tort junior buck, BC6ML.

The fifth photo is tort junior doe, BC1CE.

The sixth photo is white junior buck, BC21E.

Fort Worth Convention Center

The ARBA convention was held at the Fort Worth convention center in downtown Fort Worth. Within two blocks is the Hilton which is the headquarter hotel. This hotel used to be called Hotel Texas, where JFK stayed in 1963 just before he was assassinated.

The first photo shows Casey stands in the front of the convention center. Betty and Casey were walking from the hotel to the convention center when this photo was taken. It was a short and pleasant walk each day.

The second photo shows the English Angora corner in the show room. From left to right is Betty, Chris O. from MA, Vicki J. and Deb B., both from MN. Most of the English Angora coops were single stacked, probably due to the ample showroom space and limited number of Angora entries.

The third photo shows the American Fuzzy Lop corner opposite to the Angora coops. All the wool breeds were close to the door. There was an area outside the door fenced off for grooming and blowing.

The fourth photo shows the rest of the normal fur breeds. They were located in an area that was separated from the wool breeds by a walkway where the restrooms and the concession stand located. Most of the vendors and the ARBA booths were located with the normal fur breeds.

Flying With Rabbits

Those who have never flown with rabbits are curious how we fly to convention with 10, 20, ...50 or more rabbits.

Here are some photos taken at the baggage claim area at Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) airport.

Betty flew to DFW with top American Fuzzy Lop breeders Carol G., Christina G. and her mom Tausha. Betty had 18 English Angora, Carol G. had 25 American Fuzzy Lop and Christina had about 15. Three of us had a total of five dog kennels. Each kennel holds rabbit carriers that divided into compartments. Due to the fact that each passenger is allowed two kennels and that there is a fee to be paid to have the kennels as excess baggage, space in the kennel is of premium value. The compartments tend to be smaller than the compartments in the regular show carriers.

The top photo shows that the carriers have been taken out of the dog kennels and the kennels are stacked. Prior to the photo taken, an airline worker rolled out the kennels, while the regular luggage came out of the carousal shoot on the left. The second photo was taken from an opposite angle. Christina and Betty waited at the airport when Carol G. and Tausha went to the car rental office about 20 miles away from the airport. The third photo shows Christina maintaining cell phone contact with her mom.

We had more stuff than the space allowed in the two vans rented. Luckily, a nice gentleman Mr. Harris was at the airport picking up the shipped in rabbits. He offered to take our luggage to the convention center. We eventually were able to squeeze in all the rabbits and the kennels into the two vans.