Training for Engagement
049 What is engagement, how do we get it, and what do we do when we don't have it?
May 20, 2025•19 min
Fostering Excellence in Agility
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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Episodes
Startlines that Stick!
048 There's a lot that goes into training startlines, but it can be broken into four main categories: skills, motivation, chains, and ring sustainability. check out the online program that starts on June 2nd! fxagilityschool.com/startlinesthatstick
May 13, 2025•13 min
Responsibilities of Raising a Puppy for Sports
Megan talks with student, friend, and colleague, Sarah Espinoza-Sokal all about raising a puppy responsibly. The two coaches talk about their values and priorities when choosing what each puppy needs, and how that benefits them both in life and in dog sports. Sarah is starting a new puppy program: Limitless Agility Foundations where she plans to support puppy owners through this process and cultivate passion for living, training, and competing with these special creatures. To find out more, visi...
May 06, 2025•41 min
Do I Stop Trialing?
046 Should you keep trialing when a problem behavior crops up or take a break? I unpack my process in this episode!
Apr 22, 2025•10 min
Preparing for (Any) Event
045 I am often asked about preparing for big events, but is it really any different than preparing for a local event? Listen in to find out how I prepare for the competition weekend.
Mar 25, 2025•17 min
Planning Your (Winter) Training
044 Tips on planning and prioritizing your training when your access to agility equipment is limited.
Mar 19, 2025•11 min
Walking the Course
043 Megan explains the five phases of walking the course and planning her strategy. This blog: https://fxagility.com/blog/the-five-phases-of-course-analysis/ outlines the same information and points you toward additional resources inside Megan's school.
Mar 04, 2025•9 min
Using Props in Our Training
042 Megan shares her general thoughts on using and fading props in our agility training. Check out her website: fxagility.com
Feb 19, 2025•11 min
Expectations of a "Q"
041 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. Dive into my webinar on more effective coursework training and view my coursework training in the Event Prep Program
Feb 12, 2025•17 min
Recognizing When Things are Going Wrong
040 Don't wait for problems to be big ones, get curious about your dog's behavior and uncover small gaps in their understanding before they become impossible chasms to overcome.
Feb 04, 2025•14 min
Making the Most of Your Trial Experience
039 Megan shares 5 mindset skills she focuses on during every competition to ensure she's having a good time for herself, her dog, and her team.
Jan 28, 2025•12 min
Effectively Reducing Reinforcement
038 In this episode, Megan shares her two ways for reducing reinforcement and the training strategies she implements for each.
Jan 21, 2025•9 min
Leaving the Ring Early
037 When does Megan think about leaving the ring early and what does that look like? Listen to episode 37 to find out!
Jan 14, 2025•11 min
What Does Proofing Look Like?
036 Megan explains how she proofs different behaviors to aim for her ultimate goal: ring sustainability.
Jan 07, 2025•19 min
Addressing Bar-Knocking Behavior
035 Megan unpacks her thoughts about bar-knocking in this requested episode. Megan's favorite jumping experts: Linda Mecklenburg https://awesomepawsagilityacademy.com/current-classes/ Dr. Leslie Eide https://www.thetotalcanine.com/online-learning.html Join the coaching program https://fxagility.mykajabi.com/fx-agility-waitlist Sarah Stremming's Webinar, Bravery School https://sarahstremming.com/products/webinar/bravery-school/ Teeter training program https://fxagility.mykajabi.com/offers/sUU48VF...
Mar 22, 2024•35 min
Adjusting Criteria in Training
034 Should you make something easier in training or try to pivot in another way? Find out what Megan thinks in this episode!
Feb 22, 2024•22 min
Recapping Sprint's Agility Debut
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 F...
Aug 10, 2023•45 min
Are You Ready to Compete?
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.
Jul 20, 2023•38 min
Using FEO and FnG Effectively
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 Pit...
Jun 08, 2023•32 min
Agility Course Analysis
030 Megan talks about learning the course from the dog's perspective, the importance of sticking to the plan, the five phases of course analysis, and course memorization tips. Join Megan on June 1st at 6pm PT for her FDSA Webinar, Agility Course Analysis
Jun 01, 2023•34 min
Repairing Startline Behaviors with Sarah Espinoza-Sokal
029 Megan interviews Sarah Espinoza-Sokal about her experience repairing her Kelpie, Zi's startline performance. Megan and Sarah unpack the unique pieces of the training puzzle and discuss why each piece was important and how Sarah was able to implement it in training and in competition. You can follow Sarah on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/agilityodyssey Sarah invested most of her first 30 years into a passion for horses. In 2016, she decided to rehome her last horse and devote herself t...
Mar 02, 2023•1 hr 23 min
How Outside the Ring Behaviors Impacts Inside the Ring Behaviors
028 Optimal level of arousal is necessary for optimal performance. Does your dog's arousal increase in the parking lot of the agility trial or is it later in the run, like at obstacle 15? Let's take a look at how your beginning of the run AND end of the run routines are impacting your dog's performance. In this episode, Megan mentions several other resources, including: Episode 27 How Trialing Informs Your Training Cog Dog Radio, Reinforcement Misunderstandings Training on Their Timeline with Sa...
Feb 16, 2023•38 min
How Trialing Informs Your Training
027 Data from our training sessions inform future training sessions, right? What about trial data? Are you practicing during the week the issues that come up on the weekend? Is your current way of analyzing that data producing results for you? If not, it may be how you're analyzing the data is missing a few key questions that I'm always asking myself when watching my trial videos. Let's dive in to what "competition-only issues" may really mean and how to set up training to start improving those ...
Jan 28, 2023•23 min
Training on Their Timeline with Sarah Stremming
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. To learn more about Sarah and her online offerings,...
Jan 19, 2023•1 hr 6 min
Who Should Know Better?
025 When I hear, "Oh, they should know better", I cringe a bit. In this episode, I unpack how I understand the reality of needing to let criteria go sometimes, and what that means for the big picture of competing with our dogs. I talk about cue escalation during this episode. To learn more about that I mean, read this blog post . Follow me on Facebook and Instagram !...
Jan 12, 2023•15 min
Increasing Motivation
024: In this episode, Megan shares her thoughts on building more desire for training in our dogs. Using reinforcement consistently and in the right situations gives our dogs the confidence to be all they can be! Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and Tiktok: @fxagility
Jan 07, 2023•20 min
Principles of Teaching
023 Today I'm sharing my thoughts on teaching and coaching dog agility, or any situations where a human and dog are learning together.
Dec 08, 2022•25 min
Why Do We Enter Competitions?
022. 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.
Nov 10, 2022•26 min
Assessing Your Handling System
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.
Nov 03, 2022•23 min
What Are Seminars For?
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
Oct 20, 2022•25 min
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