Sevenah Says Goodbye To Her Show Coat

The year of 2007 has been a good year for Sevenah. From the time when she was a young junior, her potential was appreciated. During the year, she won many shows including the Best of Breed at the ARBA national convention plus many all breed Best In Show and Reserve In Show. She has 30 grand champion legs.

Though her show coat is still prime and pretty, it is time for her to exit the show circuit and enter the next phase of her life: to be a mother. The year of 2008 will be the year for her to have young and raise a family.

After these pictures, Sevenah says goodbye to her show coat.

Maiko Writes from Japan

Elliott celebrated New Year in 2007 before moving to Japan.

Elliott moved to Japan in November 2007.

Vicki was born in Japan to parents that originally came from Betty.

Maiko and Betty with Sevenah in front of Betty's bunny barn.

In November, Maiko and her friend paid a surprise visit to Betty. They took pictures together and Maiko went home with Grand Champion white buck Chu's Elliott.

Maiko writes from Japan that Elliott is doing well and he will be husband to Vicki whose parents are Betty's rabbits.

Maiko is planning on going to Louisville and we look forward to seeing her and her rabbits.

Greetings from Armando and Family

We have not seen our favorite judge Armando since the convention in Michigan. He has a new job that keeps him very busy; and the whole family is active in their church. That leaves not much time to go to far away shows.

Armando and family send their greetings to the people in the wonderful world of rabbits. We should also say that his world includes the wonderful world of cavies. In addition to Armando's prizing winning Mini Rex and Mini Satin, he is now the proud breeder of prizing winning Texel cavy. Mini Rex, Mini Satin and Texel cavy are all breeds that emphasize in their coats. No wonder Armando is so good at Angora breeds; Angora is the ultimate fur/wool breed.

The top picture was taken when the entire family went to the Disneyland. The next three photos are Armando's beautiful Texels. Alisa in the second picture is a double Best In Show winner.

Allen Guest Blogs From Africa IV

Allen on common "transit", horse and cart, getting ready to transport the sheep.

Nomadic Peul herd flocks of sheep into the city of Kaolack to sell.

Nomadic Peul herder and salesman of sheep.

Tabaski in Kaolack, Part I: Sheep Shopping

The Muslim holiday of Tabaski occured last week, and I was fortunate enough to take part in my family's celebration. Being born in central Senegal in the city of Kaolack, my family annual returns to their home city to celebrate this important holiday. It is the most important Muslim holiday, and it occurs at a different date every year. The location of the moon defines when Tabaski will occur each year. Thus, next year could be in June, for example. The central part of the Tabaski celebration is the sacrifice, by each family, of a ram. One can also sacrifice a goat, cow, or even camel. Our family is very traditional, and sacrifices sheep.

My Senegalese father's father had two wives, and 16 children, all of whom are grown. You can imagine the annual size of Tabaski in our family! This year, my family sacrificed 10 sheep, and followed with a huge, delicious feast. We spent 6 days in Kaolack, with the first day spent entirely shopping for an affordable sheep.

Nomadic people, like the Peul and Maures (from Mauritania) herd, by foot, thousands of sheep into cities to sell. It took us all day to find a fat, relatively inexpensive ($60 USD) sheep. Once we found one, I insisted we take a horse and cart back into the city! Included are pictures of a Peul nomadic herder, sheep for sale on the street, and my sheep transport via horse and cart.

I will send pictures and another blog post of Tabaski in the coming days.

Fowls Welcome in Morgan Hill

Betty says,


"It will be 30 years in February that we moved to Morgan Hill. We liked the small town appeal when we moved here but did not realize that this town is truly animal friendly.


While other towns in the area are chasing away fowls in parks and ponds, Morgan Hill is having more and more places that animals could call home. A dog park has opened last year, and there are several water facilities that fowls can rest and stay.


The photos posted here were taken a couple of days ago in a trail that allows dog-walking, people jugging while the fowls stay. Hubby and I had a great time walking in the trail. It is only about half a mile from our home."

A Reindeer Story

In a November show in Lodi, grandma Stephanie brought her little angel Isabelle to the show. Little angel wanted a white cavy; grandma Stephanie taught her a lesson of choice.

Grandma Stephanie said, "If you want that white Guinea Pig, you will have to sell some of your toys to get money to buy it." Little Isabelle set up a shop, put her stuff animals and Beanie Babies on the table and wrote a sign "$1".

Many became her customers and bought her stuff animals. Little Isabelle got more than enough money to buy her white cavy. Grandma Stephanie was happy, little angel was happy, and a lesson of choice taught. The second photo shows Grandma Stephanie and little Isabelle with the precious white cavy in her arms.

Betty came home with the brown reindeer; she recounts this story to others while showing off this little reindeer. Having been a Professor of Economics for 30 years, she feels that this is an excellent example of how to teach children an early lesson in economic choices.

Merry Christmas

Northern California Angora Guild wishes everyone a Merry Christmas.

Santa Visits Oliver and Stanley

Our long-term members Barbara and Kevin sent in the picture of brothers Oliver and Stanley. Santa has visited their home; Oliver and Stanley have been good boys all year long and received wonderful gifts from Santa.

Oliver and Stanley are lucky house rabbits. They live with their human mom Barbara and dad Kevin; they will be two years old in January.

Merry Christmas from Molina and Hairy Winston

Molina is a very choosey girl.

Since her retirement from the show circuit in December 2006 after winning the Best of Best In Show, she rejected all her suitors in the next 10 months.

Molina's human mom Casey was at her wit's end.

Auntie Betty came to rescue. Molina spent three weeks going through all of Auntie Betty's handsome boys; finally she could not resist a very charming and very persistent Hairy Winston.

Almost a year after her retirement from shows, Molina presented a litter of Christmas babies.

Merry Christmas it sure is.

Maureen's New Litter

Farrah is showing interest in building a nest.

Goodies in Farrah's nest.

Farrah says, "That's better, these hay are good for my nest."

Farrah's nest is showing potential.

Farrah is proudly showing off her new family, dad Bruno is away on business.

Babies are nice and healthy. Farrah is happy and her human mom Maureen is even happier.

Mansion On The Hill

Betty says, "Each year when I go to shows at Red Bluff, there's an additional treat. I'd go to visit Raykun, my friend who went to the graduate school around the same time as I did to study Economics at the University of Notre Dame. We received our Ph.D. about a year apart.


Over the years, Raykun has lived in different places including Michigan, California, Taiwan and back to California. She now lives in Bella Vista, a town northeast of Redding.


This is the first time I went to her new house. I was truly impressed by the sight of the property. The house is over 4500 sq. ft. with four car garages; the 3+ acres are nicely landscaped. It is a mansion on the hill.


I had a great time visiting Raykun and her husband Yung An and stayed overnight in this beautiful property."

Keelyn and Kasey

We are used to seeing pictures of Keelyn judging or winning Best In Show. When she is not judging, she is just like any teenage girls who like to hang out with friends.

In Red Bluff, Keelyn judged on Sunday but not on Saturday. In the top picture taken on Saturday, she is sharing music with best friend Kasey. With iPod in hand and one earphone in Keelyn's ear and another earphone in Kasey's ear, plus some snacks, it was heaven in a rabbit show. Adding to the fun of hanging out, she also won the Best In Show at the end of the day.

Soon-To-Be Judge Jim

Jim works with Josh.

Jim learns the fine points of English Angora.

Jim works with Randy.

Jim has a picture taken with the Best In Show winner Randy, Reserve In Show winner Betty and judge Josh.

Jim is a top Mini Rex breeder from Florida. He wins in local and national shows often. One of his big wins is the Best of Breed at the 2007 Mini Rex National Show.

A week prior to the two-day shows in Red Bluff, Jim passed his judge's examination. He needs to work under 8 different judges in 8 different shows to qualify for his ARBA judge's license. Since there aren't that many shows in Florida where he resides, he decided to fly all over the country to work on these 8 shows. He said, "You do what you got to do to get it done."

The first two shows that he chose to work were the two show dates in Red Bluff. On Saturday, he worked under Josh as shown in the first and second pictures. On Sunday, he worked under Randy as shown in the third picture. He also participated in the discussion of selecting the Best In Show and Reserve In Show in one of the open shows.

Needless to say, he passed the muster with flying colors. He mentioned that he would be in Ohio and the Carolinas to work in shows before the end of the year and hope to complete his 8-show apprenticeship in January. We wish him the best of luck and look forward to seeing him as a judge when we meet again.

Josh's Weekend In California

Josh and Jim discuss English Angora.

Josh with Betty and the BOB and BOS English Angora.

Josh with Tracy.

Josh with Keelyn and her Best In Show Florida White.

Josh with Ashton and her Reserve In Show New Zealand Black.

Josh is the ARBA District 6 director. He lives in TN. This is his first judging trip to CA.

He had a great time and we had a treat. He is funny, friendly and a very good judge.

Josh has been a judge since 2001, having received his registrar's license in 1999 at the age of 18. He currently judges about 45 weekends per year all over the country. He has also had the opportunity to judge in Thailand, Japan, and Canada. We have seen him in the photos of the shows in Japan in our previous posts.

We had a great time with him and he had a great time visiting California. We hope to see him more often in the future.

Tami's Big Boy

Tami has big French Lops. It is desirable for French Lops to be big and massive.

Tami's favorite is the big boy shown in picture one and two. She considers him as her big baby.

Big boy won Best Opposite Sex of the breed, was won over by the girl shown in the arms of Tami's friend. Though the big girl is also Tami's and she won the Best of Breed, Tami still prefers the big boy.

Justin's Great Weekend

Justin works as the registrar of the 4-show weekend.

Justin's Satin wins Reserve In Show on Saturday.

Justin's another Satin wins Reserve In Show on Sunday.

Justin judges Best of Best In Show.

Justin announces his decision.

Justin awards the Best of Best In Show prize, the big painted gourd, to Betty's English Angora.

Justin had a great weekend at Red Bluff.

He worked as the show registrar, he showed his rabbits and won Reserve In Show with two different rabbits; and he was asked to pick the Best of Best In Show.

The Best of Best In Show is not an ARBA sanctioned prize; it does not require a licensed judge to select the winner. Justin has been highly regarded as one of the best young breeders and registrars.

Mom Jennifer reports, "Justin was extremely honored to be asked to judge the best of the best. He said his decision was extremely hard too! I think it gave him a little taste of what it will be like one day. It has encouraged him for the future, AND encouraged one of his brothers to get going on his registrar’s license. Cody requested his application this week from ARBA and has been studying hard each day! Justin has also been studying for his cavy registrar’s license. He would like to start working on that after the first of the year too."

We are seeing the future of ARBA in progress.

The Entire Family Affair

The entire Ambrosino family, left to right: Kyle, Justin, Jennifer, Mike and Cody.

Mom Jennifer working at the secretary's table.

Kyle and dad Mike in the back, mom Jennifer and yellow lab Daisy in the front.

Cody and dad Mike taking Daisy for a walk.

On December 3, our blog first read "A family Affair" showing mom Jennifer with her three sons Justin, Kyle and Cody. Dad was not in that post, Mike is a fireman, was busy at the station.

In Red Bluff, the entire family attended the two-day shows. Not only dad Mike, mom Jennifer and the three brothers were there, even puppy Daisy was there too.

Mom helped at the secretary's table, big brother Justin worked as the registrar, Kyle and Cody helped at the judging tables, and dad Mike hung out with everyone and Daisy had a great time.

Justin had great weekend, we'll see what he did in the post tomorrow.

Tracy's Bumper Crop of Bunnies

Tracy has storks visiting her over and over. She has litters of Satin Angora, English Angora and even Giant Angora.

Tracy's son Oscar helps to put the bunny pile together. Can you count how many bunnies are in the pictures?

If you reach the number of 58, then you got it right!

Allen Guest Blogs from Africa III

Livestock Expo in Dakar.








Fauve de Bourgogne rabbit breed.

Allen and the breeder of Fauve de Bourgogne.

Two weeks ago, an advertisement on TV, in Wolof, grabbed my attention. The program advertised the weekend’s livestock expo in Dakar. I could hardly believe what I was seeing! You can imagine that the next morning, I piled my Senegalese family into a taxi, and went exploring. Above all, I was surprised to see Dakar hosting a livestock expo. After all, most people don’t have enough money to feed themselves; how can they feed exposition animals?

The Livestock Expo, 2nd ever held in Senegal’s history, was an expo in a more commercial setting. With the Muslim holiday of Tabaski coming in near weeks, showing off sacrificial animals found precedent at the show. Hundreds of sheep, several cows, a few chickens... and yes, even rabbits found their way to the expo. Everything was for sale, but breeders were excited to display their animals for the “oows” and “ahhs” from those in attendance as well. The primary animal used for Tabaski sacrifice is a ram, with a cow being second in importance, followed thirdly by a camel. Yes, even camels are a way of life in Africa. Over the weekend I met a Polish back-packer who was happy to have left Mauritania because he was sick of eating camel meat!

After viewing commercial vendor booths for medications, like IVOMEC, and feed milling, I heard my Senegalese mother yell, “Allen, Allen! Lapins!” Lapin, of course, is French for “rabbit”. Though not an animal used for Tabaski, a local breeder displayed 6 rabbits, mostly Fauve de Bourgogne. The breeder was as excited to speak to me as I was to speak to him! He told me it was the first time in Senegal’s history that rabbits have been displayed in such a setting. What are the chances that I study in Dakar, and find Senegal’s first rabbit show? Pretty cool stuff. He raises rabbits as a supplement to his income, but promised me if he had more rabbits and more cages, he could survive off of selling rabbits for meat. We exchanged phone numbers, made plans in the immediate future for a farm tour; and, to further conspire on the potentials of rabbits in Africa as a food source, supplement to income, and even fertilizer in rice farming.

Everyday I find discover new things in Senegal; even better when they involve rabbits!

Keelyn Wins Double Best In Show

There are double youth shows held in Red Bluff in conjunction with double open shows on Saturday and Sunday.

Keelyn turns out to be the big winner. Out of four shows, her two different Florida White won Best In Show in show B on Saturday and again in show B on Sunday.

The top photo was taken in show B on Saturday. Keelyn's Florida White took Best In Show and Justin's Satin took Reserve In Show.

The second photo is the Best In Show winner Sammy with his Netherland Dwarf in show A on Sunday.

The third photo is Keelyn winning Best In Show again in show B on Sunday. This is a different Florida White from the day before. The Best In Show judge is Josh from Tennessee. Josh is the ARBA district 6 director.

The fourth photo is Ashton with her Reserve In Show winner black New Zealand and judge Josh.

We do not have information concerning the winners in show A on Saturday.

Randy's Winning Streak

Randy and Allen's rabbits are in a long winning streak again!

Randy showed and judged 8 all breed shows in two weekends. Their rabbits won Best In Show in 5 shows and Reserve In Show in 1 show out of the 8.

During the 4-show weekend in Red Bluff, Randy and Allen won Best In Show 3 out of 4 shows.

In the top photo, their Mini Rex was the Best In Show winner and the Reserve In Show went to Jeanne's French Lop in show A on Saturday. The judges who picked the top two winners are Bruce and Joey.

In the second photo, their Netherland Dwarf won the Best In Show with Betty's English Angora as the Reserve In Show winner in show B on Saturday. Sharon (not shown) and Josh with the apprentice judge Jim picked the two top winners.

In the third photo, their Mini Rex won the Best In Show and the Reserve In Show winner in show B on Sunday was Larry and Rita’s Satin. Larry and Rita's Satin also won Reserve In Show to Betty's English Angora in show A on Sunday.

Randy and Allen's rabbits are hard to beat. Their quality gives all of us the incentive to work harder in order to be competitive.

Sevenah Wins Best of Best In Show

Sevenah is ending her show year with a high note.


During a two-day show weekend, Sevenah won a Reserve In Show on the first day, Best In Show on the second day. This is the last show weekend in No. CA. in 2007.


At the end of the show on the second day, the four Best In Show winners from the two open shows and the two youth shows were invited to go back to compete for the title of "Best of Best In Show". Sevenah took the title. Last year, Casey's Molina took the title. This is the second year that such contest was installed, and an English Angora won in both years.


The top picture is Sevenah in her pretty pose.

The second photo shows Justin, holding the prize, with Betty and Sevenah. Justin is one of the hottest registrars currently, he works in almost all the shows; he is destined to becoming in judge in the near future. He has impressed the judges and the show committees so much that he was asked to do the honor.

The third photo shows judge Carol with Betty and Sevenah. Carol picked Sevenah as the Best In Show in show A of the CRCS show.

In the fourth picture from left to right are judge-to-be Jim from Florida, Betty with Reserve In Show winner Sevenah, Randy with Best In Show winner black Netherland Dwarf and judge Josh from Tennessee. Josh and Sharon picked the Best In Show and Reserve In Show; Jim participated in the examination of the rabbits as a part of his training to becoming a judge.

It was a very busy and fun weekend. There will be many more pictures and reports in the next several days.

When Fufu Meets Pinky

Fufu is a neutered boy; he lives with his human mom Theeve.

Fufu is a lonely boy when Theeve goes to work. He plays with a fake cat.

When he is bored, he takes a nap.

In his dream, he has a pretty girl as his companion.

Fufu's dream comes true, Pinky flies across the country to be with him.

Love at the first sight, Fufu lets Pinky have his bed.

Fufu and Pinky are living together happily every after.

Eric's Trip to AZ and Pomona, CA.

Eric flew to AZ on Saturday to judge and kick off his campaign for ARBA Vice President. Kevin Stanford worked with Eric as a judge's applicant. We have seen photo of Kevin with Allen in the convention. He has one of the best Netherland Dwarf stock from Darrel and Joy who won the Best In Show in the 2000 San Diego convention.

On Sunday, Eric traveled from AZ to Pomona CA to judge for Joey's club. Eric had left home with the temperature being 16 degrees, having 60's/70's in So. CA was very nice.

Eric hopes to make another trip out west again before summer. We certainly hope so, and hope to see Eric's next westbound trip lands him in No. CA instead of So. CA.

The top photo is Eric with Randy who won Double Best In Show in AZ and Reserve In Show in Pomona with his Mini Rex that is co-owned with Allen. The second photo shows Eric giving instruction to Kevin S. on judging. The third photo is the LA County Fairfax taken by Eric; it shows a major contrast to the climate of PA where his home is.

There Won't Be A Lisa Marie

Elvis is neutered; and Priscilla left him for another home as a pet.

There won't be a Lisa Marie in the future.

The show and breeding career of Casey's Basset Hound pair Elvis and Priscilla had come to an end.

Casey is not giving up. Now she has a new dog, Raider. Raider has more show potential than Elvis and Priscilla combined.

Here is a picture of Casey with her two boys: Raider in the front and Elvis in the back. Both are Basset boys, can we see the difference?

Big Puppy Sleeping

In a recent show, kids were playing with this huge puppy, a St. Bernard.

He is only 18 weeks old but looks like a full grown medium size dog. Puppies will be puppies; in no time he is tired and falls asleep.

The Most Senior and Most Junior Judges in CA

California is blessed with abundant rabbit and cavy activities. California also claims the title of having the highest number of rabbit and cavy judges. According the most current ARBA Year Book 2007-2008, there are 42 rabbit and cavy judges in CA. The state with the next highest number is Ohio with 34.

In CA, the most senior judge is Bruce, shown in the top photo; he is most senior in both the years of judging and age. He was one of the judges in the first show that Betty showed her first English Angora Angelina. All other judges in that show are no longer with us.

The most junior judge by age is Keelyn who received her judge's license at the tender age of 17; she is currently 18. She is the only judge who is still showing in the youth shows.

The most junior judge by the time of receiving the license is Allen. Allen received his license in October this year. He judged one show after receiving his license then left for Africa. We are looking forward to his return in January 2008.

A Family Affair

Jennifer has three boys: Justin, Kyle and Cody.

They are a rabbit raising family; going to rabbit shows is a family affair.

Justin now is a registrar working on almost all the shows and he can't wait for the day that he is eligible to work on his judge's license. Both Kyle and Cody are as competitive in Satin as big brother Justin is. Cody, the youngest, has one of the highest Best In Show and Reserve In Show numbers among the youth exhibitors.

Mom Jennifer is very proud of the accomplishment of the boys. She works in shows and in all rabbit related activities.

We will be seeing three judges from this family in the near future.

Love, Rabbit Show Style

It's winter, but spring is not far behind.

Love is in the air, on the lawn, even on the grooming table in a rabbit show.

The lops, English and French, are working hard to create spring bunnies.

Adam, Soon-To-Be MD

Adam took a break from medical school for Thanksgiving. This is one of the rare occasions that he gets to go to a rabbit show with mom Carol G.

Even at a rabbit show, Adam has to study, study and study.

It's not easy to be in medical school indeed.