i thought this was an interesting conditioning regimen:


http://www.siriusdog.com/articles/ausdauerprufung-ad.htm


some good information here.

That looks pretty good. Thanks for the link.

Great info. I forwarded it to a person I know who wanted to condition for the AD.

If only my dog didn't dispise other dogs, I would sign her up for the next available date. We're working on it!

well, my staf despises all other dogs (is good with bitches) and i just ran today. granted, i got lucky, and was the only person running, but i didn't know that when i signed up. (being AKC i didn't know that you didn't have to send in entries ahead of time)


that being said, the way that i conditioned my staf was pretty easy:

ran every other day, starting at 2 miles for the first 3 days. then increased to 4 miles for 3 days. then we went up to 6 miles for 3 days, 8 miles for 3 days, 10 miles, 12 miles etc. & then gave him a few days completely off before today, when he ran for the title. he is an older dog, so only running every other day gave him time to recover between runs. the fewer times you run, the fewer chances you have for injury as well...

Good job Kristin. Who held the event? Everything I've entered has always had a closing date other then a couple of fun matches that you could walk-up if they had room.

thanks! it was the fayetteville schutzhund club in NC

I wanted to thank Beth and others for this article. I am getting ready to run Sinjin in a AD in August and had no clue how to prepare for it since my boy and I only run 2 miles in the mornings. Did anyone ever find out if a Springer was kosher in a trial?

Hi Ingrid,

Yes, the rule book specifies that a Springer may be used in the trial.

I am doing the AD with my dog in May and am using the conditioning program Kristin posted above. It seems to be going well and my dog is handling the distances without a problem.

In training runs I have her on a harness on the Springer and am also holding a leash for alittle added control. Ellie has taken to that really well. The frustrating part is the couple of falls I have had when she has seen a rabbit or squirrel up ahead and wanted to take off in pursuit. Ouch.

So after this event I think I'm going back to trail running with her tethered to me.

Good luck to you and Sinjin!

Katie

We passed AD last fall. I took the approach "hard in training, easy in battle." Veeda loved (and still does!) the biking. The only way I could do it safely was with a prong- otherwise she just kept pulling and I felt close to death couple of times other dogs came too close. Prong worked great! I used paw wax two or three times the days we cycled and once the days we didn´t to keep her paws soft. We live in a small town where I circled from one end to another and back alon the other side of the river and had to run along asphalt and, where possible, at the side of the asphalt road on sand, grass and soil mainly.

According to local regulations, it is allowed to use a Springer and the dog has to run on the right side. It posed a problem for me as I don´t have a springer nor has she ever ran in the right side as my rear break is on the right. And even though the rules don´t say what equipment the dog can wear, I was pretty sure a prong is on the no-no list. So I barrowed an old Springer from a friend who had a new one and we drove to the test.

When the dogs were lining up for the start (about 5 minutes before the start) the judge started waving hands and giving orders that the participants couldn´t understand. It was a German judge that told that he will be running the test according to German rules so no Springers, only choke chain in dread ring. It was my lucky day as he also allowed to run the dog on the left side. Apparently he not only wanted the dogs to be able to run the whole 20 km but also be under handler control. The majority of the participants had Springers, my friends very energetic and jumpy dobe had never ever ran without one so she almost canceled but as we had drove far, decided to give it a go.

The test was organized by the rottweiler club and the majority of dogs were GSDs and rotts, one tervueren and two dobes- both with some really heavy attitude torwards non-dobes (especially GSDs). The first 5 km I thought my dog is going to die- she pulled as hard as she could all the way because we had never trained to run in the company of other dogs (stupid, stupid, stupid owner, stupid...). The dog in the lead and the only one that knew the route was a placid rottweiler that ran too slow for my dogs taste (the regulations state the min and max speed so I thought we will be allowed to run the distance with max) that made Veeda even more excited. Though she started to calm down after 12-13 km. Unfortunately my friend was not as lucky- her dog dragged her until 18 km was covered plus she threw her leg in the wheel (new breaks saved the leg and the owner from serious injuries).

Water was available on both stops and on the second stop judge checked all the paws. In the end there was really supposed to be a 20 minute break but as it was getting dark, we did the obedience part right after. The judge explained that he is not expecting perfect obedience performance but wants to see that despite the fact that he just ran 20 km, the dog is still willing to work with the owner. The rules tell that there is a IPO heeling scheme but the judge asked everybody to heel up the field, leave the dog sitting, walk back and recall the dog. Veeda did the whole thing as I had just driven up to the test place and taken her out of the car for this exercise only. One overweight rottweiler seemed really beat but did what he was told and passed. I was very displeased with the judges expanation for this exercise- all the other dogs were just a few meters behind the owner recalling the dog so if a dog whould have gone and attack other dogs, he could have disqualified them. Veeda (and my friends dobe) is ok with other dogs during obedience so we had no problems and didn´t even think about it until the judge mentioned but taking a concious risk of getting a waiting dog attacked at the side of the field is just too much for me.

The work to get the dog so fit, that 20 km will be a breeze for her, paid off! The mental pressure on her was so hard that I was not sure that she will have it left in her to do the obedience part but I underestimated her. Unfortunately AD doesn´t give much to a dobe- to be able to participate in Körung, the dog needs to do ADPr. that has only one break and I have heard that Germany doesn´t accept tests done in other countries. But we had a good experience and I gained confidence in Veeda (and me).

 Quote: Jaana Aadamsoo

The first 5 km I thought my dog is going to die- she pulled as hard as she could all the way because we had never trained to run in the company of other dogs (stupid, stupid, stupid owner, stupid...)

AAAhhHHHHHH!!!! I can only imagine how you felt. But thank you for the heads up for training purposes. (learn from *others* mistakes, right?

SO glad to hear your experience overall was good and that you and your dog earned more confidence in each other.