Requirements to Obtain a COD

1) You must have been a Member of ARBA for 5 Consecutive Years

2) You must send a Written letter to ARBA stating your intent along with a $50 fee and your proposed standard.

What a COD Holder Does

There can be more than one COD holder but only one can present at a time. Gail Gibbons is the current Presenter. Before a COD holder can present though they have to of had their Certificate for at least 3 years. Every year the current presenter will head to ARBA Nationals and bring their presentation rabbits to have them looked over by 9 different judges. These judges will look for any major DQ's and make sure that the rabbits presented follow the standard and are of quality stock. Here is how each presentation works.

1st presentation: The Current COD holder must bring 2 pairs of rabbits to represent their breed. 1 SR Buck & 1 SR Doe. And then 1 JR Buck and 1 JR Doe that is their offspring. This is for EACH COLOR presented. IF passed they will go onto 2nd presentation. If they fail they will have a chance at 1st presentation again the next year. You can not fail 2 presentations in a row or it will go to the next COD holder and if the presentation process goes over 5 years it will also be passed onto the next COD holder. Once you pass the 1st presentation the working standard will be posted in ARBA's Quarterly Magazine "Domestic Rabbits". At this point ALL ARBA shows MUST allow the passed colors and the breed to show. BUT you can ONLY compete for breed at this point and NOT Best In Show.

2nd Presentation: If 1st presentation passes the next year they will need to bring 3 pairs. One pair MUST be from the 1st presentation. If they fail they will get another chance at presenting again the next year. If they pass they get to go to the 3rd and final presentation.

3rd Presentation: By FAR the most nerve racking. This one determines weather it will be a recognized breed or not. Three pairs will need to be presented. One of which  needs to be from one of the previous passed presentations. If it passes this time it is now a recognized breed and can compete for BIS! If it fails it gets one more chance if 5 years have not gone by.

I think that is about it... But as you can tell it takes ALOT to get a breed passed! I wish the presenters luck!