The ADO and DAO object libraries share some object names, (Recordsets being
the 100 lb elephant), so its important to specify which type you want in
those cases (aka, disambiguate the reference). Since the Database object
only appears in DAO, I guess it's a matter of personal habit/consistency to
explicitly declare *any* member of ADO/DAO libraries as such, rather than
just the objects that 'need' to be. IMHO, it helps to keep things straight
in my mind as the code is being written *or maintained*.
In other words, *if* you have a reference to the DAO object librbary set,
then "Dim rs as Database" would automatically refer to a DAO database
*unless* you also had a reference to some other object library that also
included a Database object (and I have no idea what that would be). Without
a DAO object library reference, that declaration would generate a compile
error. (Exception: I believe DAO is "built into" Access 2007, so it doesn't
require a separate reference.)
HTH,