Dutch

Who a Dutch suits

A dependable pick for a household with gentle children and a preference for a rabbit that learns the routine fast. Litter habits come easily and the temperament is even. It asks for nothing unusual, which is exactly why it suits people doing this for the first time.

How to build the bond: Teach little routines — a Dutch loves knowing what comes next. That sits on top of how the species works generally: Get down to their floor and let them come — dawn and dusk visits, treats from a flat palm, never a chase. Predictability is how a rabbit spells safety.

The Dutch against the other nineteen

Lined up stillest to liveliest, the Dutch is 10th of the twenty rabbit breeds here, one of 8 in the balanced band — enough appetite for activity to stay interesting and enough of an off-switch to be livable, which is the widest fit of the four bands and the least distinctive.

Ordered by how near each one sits to the Dutch on the energy axis, then by the notes they have in common. Every rabbit breed reads this table from its own position, so no two of the twenty are ordered alike.

The birth years a Dutch sits easiest with

This half of the reading is the species rather than the breed — every rabbit meets a given birth year the same way. These are the communities that sit easiest with one:

• Lion Spirit Guardian—1950,1962,1974,1986and later
• Cat Spirit Guardian—1951,1963,1975,1987and later
• Snake Spirit Guardian—1953,1965,1977,1989and later
• Horse Spirit Guardian—1954,1966,1978,1990and later

A birth year outside that list is not a warning — it is the half of the reading this page cannot settle on its own. Seat the pair on the board and it reads the rest. What the rabbit is like as a companion applies to the Dutch as much as to the other nineteen.

A pairing that involves an animal returns a word rather than a percentage. The board's deepest layer reads two inner selves against each other and an animal cannot hold one, so the result is described rather than scored — what is read here is the keeper's birth year against the species, and the breed decides everything about living with it day to day. An animal does get a chart of its own once its birth hour is known, one rung further up.

Frequently asked

What is a Dutch like to live with?

The classic picture-book rabbit — Dutch rabbits are even-tempered, quick to learn litter habits and routines, and dependable with gentle children. On the energy axis this catalogue uses, the Dutch reads as balanced — 10th of the twenty rabbit breeds here when they are lined up stillest to liveliest.

Who is a Dutch a good match for?

A dependable pick for a household with gentle children and a preference for a rabbit that learns the routine fast. Litter habits come easily and the temperament is even. It asks for nothing unusual, which is exactly why it suits people doing this for the first time.

How do you bond with a Dutch?

Teach little routines — a Dutch loves knowing what comes next. That sits on top of how the species works generally: Get down to their floor and let them come — dawn and dusk visits, treats from a flat palm, never a chase. Predictability is how a rabbit spells safety. The thing that most reliably undoes it — Sudden lifts and loud rooms keep a rabbit permanently braced — pick them up only when you must.

Which rabbit breeds are most like a Dutch?

Californian, Mini Rex, New Zealand — nearest first, measured on energy band and shared traits. At the other end of the same twenty sits the Continental Giant, one band apart. Every one of the nineteen is ranked against the Dutch further up this page.