English Spot

English Spot

Weight: 5–8 lb. ARBA-accepted varieties: Black, Blue, Chocolate, Gold, Gray, Lilac, Tortoise The English Spot is an old breed suspected to have origins similar to that of the Checkered Giant, including Flemish Giants and some kind of spotted wild rabbit. English Spots have been bred in England since the 1880s, and the first English Spots imported to America were from England. This breed is mostly white, with a butterfly mark on the nose, colored ears, and eyecircles that usually have a little "fling" on the side but rarely have a perfect circle, and chains of colored spots along its sides including a herringbone stripe down its back.It is also recognized in the show ring if it has symmetrical spots on each side. When litters are born they are 25% charlies,25% selfs and 50% marked. Charlies are spots with incomplete markings and selfs are one solid color but almost never pure white alsays lilac,black or any recognised colors. Marked is an English spot with complete markings. Breeders have to carefully breed the colors that won't make an unrecognised color. The English Spot is a Full Arch breed. The English Spot is a very active breed because of its high arch and needs at least 2 hours of running time each day. On the show table they are supposed to run on the table to demonstrate their full-arch type (this is true for all full-arch breeds except the Britannia Petite). English Spots make good pets because they are generally quite docile, but like most rabbits, they do have a few ‘mad March hare moments’! They will happily tolerate other pets included Guinea Pigs and familiarize themselves with domestic cats and dogs. More recently, breeders in the UK have been able to cross the English Spot with smaller rabbit breeds. It has been quite a slow process, although the latest families of offspring are showing muted-grey markings of the English Spot including the spine stripe, eye patches, and nose patch. Currently, this ‘scaled down’ version of the Scottish Spot is not recognized by professional bodies, but is recognized amongst some breeders as the 'Mini English'. The Netherland Dwarf, however can be shown in the UK in any recognized colour for any breed so there are a few dedicated breeders who can be seen with English marked Netherland Dwarves. The English Spot is a Full Arch breed. The English Spot Rabbit tends to have an affectionate calm tranquil personality from years of selective breeding. For children trained in handling rabbits this is often the rabbit breed of choice as it will often tolerate children extremely well as long as not abused and well cared for. Children tend to love the patterns of English rabbits but a smaller well bred dwarf mixture of less than 5 pounds is often easier for a smaller child to handle along with care for. Too small the rabbit may be too delicate in body structure for small children to handle safely.