Do many people push their dogs for this or is it just to much ware on a dogs body for not much purpose. which is my opinion.

Hi Mitch. This is my perspective as a relative newbie to all of this.

My husband Gary did the AD with our dog Ferguson over Memorial day weekend this year. The process of prepping for the AD was a great additional bonding experience for Gary and Fergie. Of course we already had hip X-Rays in hand before serious conditioning started, and they worked into it gradually, as common sense dictates with any athletic endeavor for humans or dogs. Fergie clearly enjoys the bike trail adventures. (They still bike for conditioning post AD)

The conditioning clearly makes a difference in all other phases of Fergie and Gary's training. While training session length is ideally determined by accomplishment (quit while you're ahead!), we rarely are forced to end a session because Fergie is pooped out.

Gary not only enjoyed just "doing this" with Fergie, but also enjoyed his first experience under a judge with a trial related activity. I know there are many very experienced trialers here, but for a newbie, doing the AD gave Gary a great sense of accomplishment with his dog.

Sort of a funny side story - shortly before the event, we were told that often the SV judges don't really take the AD seriously - maybe don't require the full distance, and more often than not skip the "by the book" going and coming exercise at the end (don't know if that is true or not). Gary was actually disappointed to hear that, since he and Fergie had trained for the full deal.

Thankfully, the judge did require the full distance, and went by the book for how an AD is to be conducted. Gary was thrilled to "earn" his first ever score book entry.

So there you have the newbie perspective!!

Beth