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Fostering Excellence in Agility

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!

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27 episodes
weekly
Avg 24 min
English

Episodes 27

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September 17 · 25 min
The Importance of Canine Conditioning, Part 1, with Anna Lee Sanders
083 Today I am joined by the creator of Canine Conditioning Coach, Anna Lee Sanders. I get to pick her brain about why starting a conditioning program before you need it is best practice and provides the most benefit for improved performance and reduction in injury risk. Learn more about Anna Lee's work at https://canineconditioningcoach.com/about-us/
September 10 · 12 min
Training By Yourself
082 Last year, my training partner moved country and left me to train alone for the first time in quite a while! Here's what I noticed was different, and how I've made an effort to change it for the better.
September 3 · 14 min
WCO & USO Prep!
081 This summer was abnormal and full of interruptions. We trained very little and trialed even less. So what have we been doing to catch back up for the opens this fall? This episode breaks down what we've been doing and what we will be doing to be our best at the West Coast and US Opens this fall.
August 28 · 18 min
Moving (not reducing) Reinforcement
In this episode, I unpack the three main types of training sessions agility people use, and how we reinforce during those sessions could be impacting our transition into the competition ring.
August 20 · 15 min
Adding Distractions to Your Training
079 To compete well, dogs need to learn to ignore distractions once they notice them. This begins with understanding what they should do when they see something interesting to them. Once they know that, the concept can be applied to a wide range of contexts, including your agility training. In a previous episode: https://www.fxagilityschool.com/podcasts/fostering-excellence-in-agility/episodes/2149220463 I talk about how to improve the clarity in your training and that is incredibly important to this conversation. Please join the conversation in the Fans of FxAgility Community: https://www.fxagilityschool.com/signup
August 13 · 16 min
REPEAT: Expectations of a Q
078 You need clear rounds to progress in dog agility, but focusing on clear rounds isn't the answer. Dive into this episode to shift your perspective on the sport and how you train for and compete for clear rounds.
August 6 · 19 min
Stamina for Agility Dogs
077 Building stamina is a process. Working to increase the dog's workload over time and looking for ways to reduce their cognitive load during events will improve their performance inside and outside of the agility ring. Join the conversation in my free community: https://www.fxagilityschool.com/signup
July 30 · 23 min
What is Ring Readiness?
076 In this episode, Megan shares a list of things that might be different from training to trialing. Understanding these differences and how your dog might respond to these differences shapes the way we train and prepare our dogs for competition. She shares ideas for training these things and invites you into her free community to discuss training plans for your team. Join the community -> https://www.fxagilityschool.com/signup Other Episodes You Might Be Interested In: Ring Prep Training Are You Ready to Compete? Ring Stress What Does Proofing Look Like? Recapping Sprint's Agility Debut
July 23 · 1 hr 5 min
REPEAT: Training on their Timeline
075 Sarah Stremming, Cog Dog Coach, joins Megan to discuss how their two youngest dogs, Rayya (Sarah's Icelandic Sheepdog) and Sprint (Megan's Border Collie) have completely different training plans and are on really different paths, but how those paths ultimately lead to the same place. These two coaches dive in to why these differences are so important and the reality of the extra time and care it takes to adjust each detail depending on the day.
July 16 · 22 min
REPEAT: Ring Prep Training
074 Preparing for competition-like situations is possible, even without recreating the entire trial environment. Listen in for what Ring Prep training is and how we can do it! Additional resources on this topic: Ring Prep without the Ring Live Session Ring Prep Bundle Ready to Compete podcast
July 9 · 38 min
REPEAT: Are You Ready to Compete?
073 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. While this is a repeat episode, the conversation happening in the Fans of FxAgility Community is not! Join us: www.fxagilityschool.com/signup
July 2 · 17 min
Training and Using Stashed Reinforcement
Episode 072: Training and Using Stashed Reinforcement Humans understand that in order to compete, rewards have to be left outside of the ring, but does your dog understand that? In this episode, I break down how I train this concept from when my dogs are young puppies, and how I use the concept throughout their education and eventually competition. Interested in learning more? Join the conversation in my free Fans of FxAgility Community: https://www.fxagilityschool.com/signup
June 25 · 10 min
Three Places to Increase Clarity in Your Training
071 Most training focuses on how fast and accurate the dog performs a specific behavior. What if the small details surrounding that performance were also a priority? There are three places in our training that are commonly overlooked can be what's keeping you from making progress in your training. Join the conversation in the FxAgility Community: https://www.fxagilityschool.com/signup
June 18 · 10 min
Dealing with Disappointment
070 Agility is full of highs and lows. Injuries. Low Q Rates. Not qualifying for events. It all happens and it’s all a bummer. How we move through it though, impacts how we “get back on the horse”, as the saying goes. In this episode, I share my 3-step process and questions I ask myself for how to move forward.
June 11 · 12 min
Larger Reward Events
069 We’ve all heard of using jackpots, right? But what if it really is about making every reward mean more? In this episode, Megan talks about a recent article from neurosciencenews.com and shares how she’s already been applying this information and what she observes in her learners. Here’s the article: Large Reward Events Accelerate Learning Speed by Extending Brain Signals Episode mentioned in this podcast: Maintaining the Value of Your Reinforcers or View on Youtube Join the conversation in the free community and comment directly on this post to share your thoughts.
June 4 · 27 min
The Process of Getting Good at Agility
Agility is hard and it takes time to get good at it, let alone master it. Megan shares her experience in focusing on the process and using data to improve the overall performance while letting go of outcome results. Join the discussion in the (FREE) Fans of FxAgility Community -> https://www.fxagilityschool.com/signup
May 28 · 12 min
Training for Your Current Capacity
067 Feeling low on time? Have a listen to this episode where Megan breaks down how she focuses her training when life gets busy and agility takes the back burner.
May 21 · 18 min
Ring Stress
066 In this episode, Megan talks about common behaviors associated with ring stress, what could be causing the stress, and how to develop the appropriate training plan to address it.
May 14 · 28 min
1-TDC UKI Invitational Wrap Up
In this episode, I share my thoughts and feelings about mine and Sprint's performance from the event, my training plans since then, and how I'm moving forward with our goals. I invite you to follow along post-run analyses and training sessions in the (free) Fans of FxAgility Community: https://www.fxagilityschool.com/signup
April 2 · 16 min
Criteria Shifts Beyond the Acquisition Phase
064 How do we continue to push our dog's understanding of the different obstacle cues and behaviors? By focusing on making training sessions intentionally different, we can expose our dogs to a wider variety of contexts and grow their capacity to perform the behavior under pressure in competition.

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