Fostering Excellence in Agility

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  

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 conversatio...

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  

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.

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 mentione...

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  

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.

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.

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

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.

Enjoy this Coaching Call Replay! Join the Fans of FxAgility Community to discuss agility, watch (and ask questions about) my training, and join in on the regular coaching calls! All available for free!  Click here to join. 

062 What holds more power for your dog, food, toys, or the agility obstacles? While we want the obstacles to be valuable to the dog, we need to maintain value and power for the reinforcers that we can more easily control: food and toys. Megan dives into habits around reinforcement that we can apply immediately in order to maintain and build value for our food and toys that we give our dogs during...

061 In this episode, Megan explains the 3-point system for determining which path on course will be fastest, and how your individual dog fits into that guiding system. Checkout all the ways you can learn from Megan at www.fxagility.com and be sure to join the free community, Fans of FxAgility, where Megan shares her training, answers questions, and offers coaching calls for all members:  www....

060 In this episode, Megan expands on how to set dogs up for success when entering their first group classes in order to avoid problems. She gives ideas for group class instructors and individuals for focusing on the essential skills first and the agility skills second.

059 This episode is from a Coaching Call inside Fans of FxAgility, a free community. Make sure you sign up to join the next coaching call! https://www.fxagilityschool.com/signup

058 In this special crossover episode with Cog-Dog Radio, Megan is joined by friend and colleague, Sarah Stremming to talk about every agility person's favorite buzzword: Arousal.

057 In this episode, Megan is joined by the host of Before the Q, Rose Cybulski, to talk about stepping out of one's comfort zone and what the road to the 2026 Canadian Open might look like—interested in learning more? Check it out: Before the Q Podcast Watch Episode 2 of the Vlog! Support Rose & her projects

056 What is pressure, and how can we train for it? Find out in this episode!

055 In this mini-sode, I break down my different types of offers: free, self study, coaching program, and guided programs. Free Content:  This Podcast! Make sure you've subscribed!  Social Media: Facebook and  Instagram Fans of FxAgility Community: Signup or  Login   Plan with Excellence Mini-Course   If you aren't currently on my email list and want to be, scroll to...

054 Let's unpack some definitions of positive and negative reinforcement, a real-life training example, and why focusing on the use of positive reinforcement will benefit your team overall. Video examples of skills trained with positive reinforcement, but may also be benefiting from negative reinforcement, are available inside my free community, Fans of FxAgility.  Login here  or Join he...

053 There are seven ways to observe behavior and look for signs of learning. In this episode, Megan shares those seven ways for a quick definition and then unpacks how she uses those forms of measurement in her own training. When I set out to record this episode, I referenced my well-loved copy of Learning and Behavior by Paul Chance.  Join the Fans of FxAgility free community here:  htt...

052 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

051 When I first started competing, we had limited options on how to maintain our habits from training to trialing, but now with FEO and FNG available is most (all?) organizations, it's easier to be consistent in our habits. In this episode, I talk about how I use each opportunity to bridge the gap between training and trialing for teams of all levels. Episode 031 Using FEO & FNG Effectively J...

050 How we respond to mistakes and use mistakes in our training is based on our values and how we choose to train. We have so many tools available to us that allow us to build confident and resilient learners that don't involve confusion or frustration. Learning to control our own emotions plays a huge role in how our dogs navigate playing this game with us. Take a listen, and join the Fans of Fx...

049 What is engagement, how do we get it, and what do we do when we don't have it?