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Seeking Out Other Methods
I recently had a Facebook Live session where I gave advice on splitting your training, and answered questions about my processes. You can view that chat here. My first piece of advice was to seek out other methods of training the same skills or obstacle. Not to change...
Money in the (mindset) Bank!
Here's a lecture I wrote for my FDSA Class EL140 Mindset Training for Dog Sports, but I thought it would make a great blog post for those of trying really hard to build up new habits and behaviors for ourselves as trainers, teachers, and competitor. You have to give...
Is “time” related to progress?
Time spent at a training project isn’t in direct correlation with progress. I hear it from clients all of the time: “I’ve been doing this since he was a puppy, he should know this!” or, “I’ve been doing this for many months, he should know this by now!”, or something...
Tips for Your Training Plans: Record Keeping
If you struggle with record keeping or coming up with plans, I suggest breaking the behavior into very small pieces and focusing on one piece at a time, every time you train, for one month. In one month, the behavior will become a habit, making it that much easier to...
Consistency within a Handling System… The Big Picture
I want to talk about Handling Systems for just a second. I don't want to hash out which is better or which is easier for the dog or for the handler. In fact, I don't want to call it a handling system. I want to call it a Cueing System. Instead of talking about how...
The Pitfalls of Cue Escalation
What is cue escalation? This is what happens when a handler gives a dog a cue, and the dog responds with the “wrong behavior", and when the handler reattempts to give the cue, the cue has changed. It has gotten bigger, louder, slower, faster, more obvious, etc. The...
About
Megan Foster
FOUNDER, SYNERGY DOG SPORTS
I have been training in agility nearly my entire life. With seventeen years of experience, I have had the opportunities to work with hundreds of dogs within a large variety of breeds.
I began my agility journey with an American Eskimo and a Westie. In 1999, I began competing with my first Shetland Sheepdog, Buddy. Buddy’s lesson to me was about connection and bond. While running him, I knew that agility was what I was meant to do.
