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!

Last refreshed: July 26th, 2025 at 11:49 AM ⓘ

Follow this podcast in the Metacast mobile app to refresh it and see new episodes.

Follow on

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

RSS

Podcasts are better in Metacast mobile app

Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more

Episodes

Community Q&A: Teeter Training

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.

Sep 29, 2022•27 min

Concept Training for Improved Homeschooling

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 S ynergy Dog Sports Homepage...

Sep 08, 2022•19 min

Improving Training Habits Based on Brain Research

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 ...

Sep 01, 2022•37 min

Stopped vs Running Contacts

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.synergydogspor...

Aug 25, 2022•24 min

Feedback & Motivation with Liz Joyce

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 med...

Aug 11, 2022•32 min

Technique Training

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

Aug 04, 2022•34 min

Foundation Skills for Agility Dogs

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...

Jul 28, 2022•31 min

Essential Skills for Agility Dogs

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!

Jul 21, 2022•32 min

Why I Upgraded to Location Specific Reward Markers

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

Jul 14, 2022•32 min

Puppies Part 3: Agility Foundations

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...

Jul 07, 2022•24 min

Puppies Part 2: Stop "Should"ing Yourself

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

Jun 30, 2022•37 min

Puppies Part 1: Life & Dog Sports

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 Ag...

Jun 23, 2022•23 min

Training Plans

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.fxagility.com/trainingplans Follow on FB, IG, Tiktok, & Youtube: @fxagility

Jun 16, 2022•20 min

Troubleshooting Your Handling

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...

Jun 09, 2022•26 min

Breaking Down Splitting

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

Jun 02, 2022•27 min

Your Mechanics Matter

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

May 26, 2022•32 min

Loopy Agility Training

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

May 19, 2022•31 min

The Big Picture

#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

May 12, 2022•20 min

Story Time! Who I am and why I'm here!

#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

May 05, 2022•11 min

← Prev

For the best experience, listen in Metacast app for iOS or Android