The Silver Fox
The Silver Fox is a large rabbit with senior does weighing 10 to 12 pounds and senior bucks between 9 and 11 pounds. The body is medium in length with well filled shoulders and hindquarters. The two important features of the breed are its unusually long fur and evenly silvered coat, which usually does not fully develop until the 6th or 7th month of age. The coat is longer than normal commercial rabbit fur, with a slightly coarse texture that should resemble the pelt of a fox. Silver tipped or white hairs will be present along the flanks and all over the body, including head, feet and tail. The black color should run deep to the skin with a slate under color. The most unusual quality of the fur is that when it is slowly stroked backwards from the tail to the head, the fur "stands up" and it requires another stroke from the head to the tail to return it back in place. Another desired feature to breeders are black toe nails, rather than white, this is a trait of the original Silver Fox. Lack thereof is an automatic disqualification for any show exhibiter. Silver Foxes are wonderful mothers, have sweet personalities and love attention. The black is the only variety allowed to show at present. The blues are being worked on for presentation to be readmitted to the Standard. Recently, Meara Collins has developed chocolate foxes as well. Both the Blue and Chocolate varieties are under review with ARBA with Meara Collins holding both Certificates of Development (COD).
The History of the Silver Fox
The Silver Fox Rabbit was the second truly American bred rabbit, the first being the American Blue. In each of these breeds, a Checkered Giant sport was involved. What is now known is that the Silver Fox was originated and developed during the 1920's by Mr. W.B. Garland of North Canton, OH. This man was energetic and had a tremendous knowledge of the essentials of breeding to develop a desired trait. He was a pioneer in many phases of development of the domestic rabbit, its care and breeding.
Mr. Garland had a black self Checkered Giant doe. She had the unusual quality of having a large number of white hairs scattered over her body. He also had some English Silvers. The Silver had a 6 pound weight limit for showing, its fur was coarse, and similar to that of a guinea pig, and it was a cobby and compact rabbit. This trait was a feature that caught his fancy. He envisioned a blocky "Hereford" type rabbit, similar in color to the English Silver, but with a desirable fur and more practical utility size. He wanted the Silver type and the checkered size! After considerable difficulty, a successful mating of the small silver buck and the large black doe was made. From his first litter, the largest buck was bred back to his mother and the largest does were bred back to the father. With about 40 hutches, and after 14 years of consistent culling, he had a rabbit that was breeding true to type and color and was the first rabbit of its day to dress out at a pound under its live weight. He developed both blacks and blues. Please not that there are no Flemish Giant blood in the Silver Fox other than through the ancestry of the Checkered Giant itself.
In September 1971 the National Silver Fox Rabbit Club was officially chartered with the ARBA, with 15 members. The Silver Fox had been on the verge of extinction and were successfully brought back. They are currently being worked on again to improve type and color and to increase their numbers. Most breeders are hard pressed to fill the demand for this breed and waiting lists are not uncommon at the present time.