Fostering Excellence in Agility : Recent Episodes
Megan Foster
Megan Foster, Founder of Synergy Dog Sports and creator of Fostering Excellence in Agility, shares her passion, knowledge, tips and secrets for all things dog agility. Each episode, she will take you through a critical element of agility training and break down the history of it, the dos and don’ts, as well as some key action steps you can take today to continue your path to excellence. Discover how to approach agility training from a place of wellness and learn how to build an agility training program that fits your needs and fuels your passion for the sport. Megan has taken her experience over the last 25 years and developed a systematic approach to agility that applies the most innovative positive reinforcement techniques to both ends of the leash. Megan not only coaches students on their training and competitive goals but also mentors other dog agility coaches to hone their craft in the dog sport world. Ready to ignite (or re-ignite) your passion for this game? Hit subscribe & let’s go!
033 Megan shares her experience debuting Sprint, her two-year-old Border Collie, in agility competitions. Find out insights into what Megan saw change in Sprint's behavior over time and how well the debut strategy worked.
Resources:Episode 32: Are You Ready to Compete?
Youtube: Sprint's First Trial Highlights
Youtube: Sprint's Second Trial, Novice Jumping
Youtube: Second Trial, Novice Agility
Episode 28: How Outside the Ring Behaviors Impact Inside the Ring Behaviors
Episode 31: Using FEO and Fix & Go Effectively
032 When should you start competing and what does that look like for each team? How to plan to maximize success all comes down to the splits in behavior that we need our dogs to understand.
031 For Exhibition Only and Fix and Go On are two tools we have in the competition ring that can help us narrow the gap between how our dogs perform in training versus how they perform in trials. In this episode, Megan breaks down the pros and cons of each and talks about how she would use either of these options.
Mentioned in this episode:
Using FEO/NFC with a toy in the ring: https://youtu.be/C6z7UqyPzDo
Proactively helping a dog before they make a mistake: https://youtu.be/xq4oobNp2wo
The Pitfalls of Cue Escalation --> https://fxagility.com/blog/the-pitfalls-of-cue-escalation/
Different Types of Training --> https://fxagility.com/blog/reducing-delaying-reinforcement/
Beginning of Run Routines --> https://fxagility.com/blog/beginning-of-run-routines-evaluating-your-dogs-readiness/
End of Run Routines --> https://fxagility.com/blog/end-of-run-routines-do-you-have-it-do-you-need-it/
Episode 29, Startlines with Sarah Espinoza-Sokal --> https://fxagility.mykajabi.com/podcasts/fostering-excellence-in-agility/episodes/2147886802
- Let's all own up to our competitive nature AND hold up to our values of training and competing with excellence. We owe it to our dogs and to ourselves to be mentally, physically, and technically prepared for each competition, but now all competitions should be treated equally. Listen in to find out how Megan prioritizes different phases in training while at competition throughout the year.
021 When you learn something new, how do you know what to do with that information? How do you decide if you should put effort into using this new skill, or if you should put it on the back burner for another time? In this episode, Megan gives you a series of questions for handlers to dig into in order to filter and file new information.
020 - What are dog agility seminars for and how can you prepare to get the most out of one? In this episode, Megan talks about different seminar formats, how to get the most out of your time as a worker AND an auditor, and the different perspectives of seminar-ing: student, host, and instructor.
Join the community --> www.synergydogsports.com/community
019 In this episode, Megan answers questions from community members about all things Teeter Training. Listen in for insights, tips, and tricks for teaching and maintaining a confident and reliable teeter performance.
018 It's a fact that instructors wish students would practice more outside of class AND students wish that it was easier to practice outside of class. Dive into this episode to learn how Megan uses foundation skills and a little bit of creativity to continue building skills, repairing skills, and teaching new skills to dogs of all ages and experience levels.
Essential Skills for Stopped Contacts Webinar
Synergy Dog Sports Community
Synergy Dog Sports Homepage
017 Megan draws parallels between how we practice dog agility and how musicians practice and her ah-ha moments when applying current brain research to both.
Megan references Dr. Molly Gebrian's excellent and insightful youtube series "What Musicians Can Learn about Practicing from Current Brain Research" Please go have a listen to that series and ALL of Dr. Gebrian's work - she makes the neuroscience very easy to understand and apply.
Join Megan for her webinar on Essential Skills for Stopped Contacts on September 8th 2022 or purchase ahead of time to get access to the recording!
Subscribe to the SDS Community on MightyNetworks to gain access to extras!
Happy Training.
016 Today Megan breaks down why someone may choose to train stopped contacts vs running contacts and how the choices for each contact obstacle are not exactly equal. Spoiler: it has a LOT to do with your big picture!
Essential Skills for Stopped Contacts Webinar --> https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/self-study/webinars
From Trick to Treat 6-week Teeter Training Course --> https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/index.php/courses/28852
www.synergydogsports.com/community
www.synergydogsports.com
Join me in this excellent conversation with fitness coach and my personal trainer, Liz Joyce. She is the founder of Canine Handler Fitness where she runs a speed and agility development program for agility handlers called Fast & Agile. She has been in the fitness industry since 2006 and has logged over 15000 client training hours to date. She has a gift at making fitness accessible, manageable and effective. To learn more about Liz, visit: caninehandlerfitness.com or follow her on social media! Send her a friend request on Facebook and follow her IG account @caninehandlerfitness www.synergydogsports.com/community www.synergydogsports.com
Megan shares how she introduces new handling techniques to dogs and how she progresses the training overtime in order to build ring sustainability for both the handler and the dog.
www.synergydogsports.com/community
www.synergydogsports.com
All agility behaviors, no matter how complex, can be worked backwards to a series of skills that I teach as foundation behaviors to my puppies and dogs new to agility training. In this episode, I unpack these skills and how they directly impact your agility training as well as other areas in your dog's performance career.
www.synergydogsports.com/community
www.synergydogsports.com
We all know how important foundations are, but what about the skills needed before foundations can begin? Those skills are what I refer to as essential skills, and I want to bring more awareness to them! These skills are puppy friendly and make life with your dog more civilized and enjoyable AND bring more clarity to your sport specific training. It's a win-win!
From frantic to fabulous! I unpack the turning point in my training, nearly 7 years ago, and how it has helped me reach unbelievable precision and clarity in my training.
www.synergydogsports.com/community
Ok, but what CAN we be teaching our puppies that directly impacts their agility career?! Megan goes through her list of essential skills that prepares her puppies for agility foundations that can build, stack, stagger, and inter-lock with all sorts of other skills, so that regardless of the pup's physical abilities, they are able to train for the end goal: competing confidently and comfortably in a variety of environments.
www.synergydogsports.com/community
009 Megan speaks to the mindset needed when embarking on raising and training your puppy for sports, and some top tips for planning your training with your puppy and how to maintain progress.
www.synergydogsports.com/fxagility
www.synergydogsports.com/community
www.synergydogsports.com
008 Megan opens this puppy mini-series talking about life and how to build the habits you want for that puppy long term and to recognize that the dog you live with is the dog you compete with and they are always learning about who you are as a trainer.
Reliable Recalls, by Sarah Stremming, host of Cog-Dog Radio
You can join the Community and get your questions answered.
Check out my free video course, Plan with Excellence to learn how to build your own training plans!
Fostering Excellence in Agility opens for new members in July! Learn more here.
& join me next week to hear more about PUPPIES!
007 Megan breaks down her process for planning a training session, and gives her top tips for staying efficient and effective in your training. FREE video course on training plans: www.synergydogsports.com/trainingplans www.synergydogsports.com/community www.synergydogsports.com Episode 005: Breaking Down Splitting
006 Imagine it: you're running some sequences in your yard and something unexpected happens. Now what? Don't worry, there's a method for working out what went wrong and how to change it without sacrificing future progress. Listen in to learn the steps Megan takes to troubleshoot her own handling and her students' handling.
www.synergydogsports.com/community
www.synergydogsports.com
005 Megan shares her tips in splitting apart the job of splitting apart the behaviors we teach our dogs. Focusing on splitting during the acquisition phase vs the generalization phase and what we can be doing to improve our performance in competition without access to full rings of equipment.
www.synergydogsports.com/community
Be fair to yourself and your dog: practice your mechanics to fluency without them before adding your dog to the equation! Megan dives into why your mechanics matter so much in training, competing, and teaching.
www.synergydogsports.com/community
www.synergydogsports.com
003 Let's break down the components of loopy training and how focusing on these details can help you identify and correct problems in your training sessions. www.synergydogsports.com/community www.synergydogsports.com
002 Combat comparison by getting really real about your aspirations and all the variables that contribute to the path you take to get there.
Join the Community --> www.synergydogsports.com/community
Bookmark the website --> www.synergydogsports.com
001 Learn about Megan and why she's decided to start podcasting. A brief history of her 25 years experience in sport and how Fostering Excellence in Agility was born!
Join the Community --> www.synergydogsports.com/community
Bookmark the website --> www.synergydogsports.com