Book Megan
Want to train with Megan? Have her come to a training facility near you!
Clear, Kind, and Effective training for all team members
Solution Based Training
Variety of Seminar Topics & Coaching Options
Megan’s seminar topics are based on her program: Fostering Excellence in Agility. Megan is currently booking seminars for 2022.
Fostering Excellence in Agility
The seminar format
Agility Handler Mechanics
Top 10 Foundation Skills
Blueprint for Sequencing
Technique Training
Connect the Dots: Coursework
These 5 topis encompass the unique training perspective that Megan offers to the agility community. When building a seminar for your group, Megan will work within these topics. Each topic is outlined in more detail below.
Agility Handler mechanics
Length: 1 day
Do you constantly get the same feedback from your isntructor over and over again? Does learning new handling techniques feel like a game of twister while running full speed? Breaking new skills down into smaller pieces is NOT just for teaching our dogs new skills: it’s for YOU too! Agility handler mechanics are the micro-skills of handling. They are the key movements that come up again and again in every technique that we learn. When these movements are in automation, learning to put those movements together into techniques takes less time and less frustration for everyone involved.
This seminar isolates the agility handler’s physical cues, training them without the dog. Participants will develop an understanding of how dogs respond to physical cues and how to use those cues more effectively on an agility course. By isolating common movements, you will develop fluency in your communication with the dog. The handler who takes this seminar will be better prepared to teach their dog the skills necessary to confidently follow their handling.
Students will hone their eye, feet, and upper body cues neutral to any handling system. You will learn about the timing of cues, the position of your cues, and how to reward your dog for following those cues. As the seminar progresses, students will learn how these isolated movements can be combined to form common handling techniques and how to walk courses more effectively to reduce errors when adding the dog to the equation.
This seminar is appropriate for any level agility handler, including those brand-new to agility. Since we are working without dogs, proper agility equipment and field access are not required. This seminar is a combination of discussion, demonstration, and a lot of floor time working with each other via games and fun exercises! No dogs will be worked during this seminar.
top 10 foundation skills
Length: 1 day
Wish you had a book titled “How to Build an Agility Dog”? I know I have wished for this many times before. While I haven’t written a book, I have developed a systematic program for teaching agility that can begin as soon as you bring your puppy home. This seminar breaks down the 10 foundation skills of my program, and gives you insight into the progression of those behaviors so that you start to see your agility dog “take shape” even after only a handful of training sessions.
In this full day seminar, the group will bounce back and forth between discussion and training with the puppies to make sure we can practice each skill and meet each team where they’re at and give the youngins plenty of time to rest between exercises.
Megan will also help you set your puppy up for success in the seminar environment and help you start to teach them how to access the fun and games via calm and controlled behaviors and mindsets.
Blueprint for sequencing
Length: 1 day
Does it feel like you jumped from foundation training to sequencing and now it feels hard? That happens all too often, and why this seminar exists! There are some key concepts that all agility teams need in order to make sequencing a more seamless part of your training. In this seminar students will learn:
– clear reinforcement strategies to support the behaviors that you want to see
– timing and connection loops
– commitment and keeping commitment
– following the handling
& more!
Technique Training
Length: 1 day
A crucial part of running agility is understanding how each handling technique affects your dog’s jumping trajectory and running line. For handlers to collect this data, they must first be fluent in their physical cues of each technique. Once fluent, the handler can begin to rely on the dog’s reactions, and therefore make better use of those handling strategies in the future.
During technique training seminars, handlers will be introduced to 4-6 techniques per day, practice the mechanics without their dogs, with their dogs, and apply those techniques on short sequences, learning how to optimize their use on the agility course.
Connect the dots: Coursework
Length: 1 day
– walk through & discussion
Not sure what you’d like to offer? No problem!
Megan will work with her hosts to determine what is needed most for the potential students of the seminar.
