Steve Austin’s love affair with dogs began at age 12 with a scrappy stray named Sooty. In the pubs of Rockdale in Sydney’s south, young Steve would have Sooty balance a schooner of beer on his head whilst delighted patrons tossed coins at them. That rough, tough, black pup was the start of something extraordinary—a lifelong passion that would take Steve and his four-legged partners to the ends of the Earth and back.
More than 30 years later, Steve is recognised as one of Australia’s top dog trainers, with a particular gift for scent detection work. But here’s what makes him special: Steve doesn’t train show dogs or competition champions (though he’s won plenty of those too). He trains rescue dogs—mutts from pounds and shelters—and turns them into conservation superheroes.
Steve’s philosophy is beautifully simple: dogs need rules, boundaries, and a reason to get up in the morning. Even if it’s just going for a walk at the same time each day with their boss, dogs thrive when they have structure and purpose. And boy, does Steve give them purpose. His dogs have detected narcotics in California, tracked cheetahs in Namibia, sniffed out Australia’s first truffles in Tasmania, and protected the country’s biosecurity for a decade when he worked as National Detector Dog Trainer with the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service.
But his most remarkable adventure happened on a windswept island 1,500 kilometres from Hobart. Macquarie Island, a World Heritage site, was facing ecological disaster. By 2008, rabbits had overrun the place—over 130,000 of them munching through the island’s vegetation and threatening breeding grounds for seals, penguins, petrels and albatross. After a massive baiting programme, there was one critical problem: how could they be certain every single rabbit was gone? Even one breeding pair could produce 350,000 rabbits in just a few years.
Enter Steve Austin and his detection dogs. The challenge was bonkers. The dogs needed to find rabbits hidden in warrens anywhere on the island’s 22 square kilometres of rugged, sub-Antarctic terrain. They had to work in brutal weather and around massive elephant seals wallowing in mud. On his first day, Steve’s most trusted Springer Spaniel, Gus, got completely stuck in a seal wallow. Welcome to Macquarie Island!
Steve assembled a crack team of 12 detection dogs—seven Springer Spaniels and five Labradors, many rescued from pounds. These dogs learnt to detect rabbit droppings and urine, signal their handlers, and then leave the rabbits completely alone. No touching, no chasing, no harm to any native wildlife whatsoever. It was scent detection at its most demanding.
The mission took several years, with the dogs methodically covering every square metre of the island. In the end, they discovered 13 surviving rabbits that had evaded the baiting programme. Without those dogs, the entire $25 million project would have failed. In 2014, the island was declared rabbit-free—Australia’s most successful pest eradication programme. In 2015, Australia Post honoured the team with a series of stamps: The Dogs That Saved Macquarie Island.
Steve’s conservation work hasn’t stopped there. He’s trained dogs to detect cane toads, foxes and feral cats across Australia. He’s helped protect endangered species including Bell’s turtles, Gould’s goannas, koalas, quolls, and threatened birds. He’s worked in the Kimberley, protected penguin colonies at Sydney’s North Head, and even trained the first fox detection dogs for Lane Cove Council.
Together with his wife Vicki, also an accomplished trainer, Steve runs courses in scent detection, puppy classes, and dog behaviour from their home in Arcadia, north-west of Sydney. They believe that educated trainers and well-socialised puppies are key to keeping dogs out of shelters. Steve has also given back to veterans through Defence Community Dogs, where inmates help train dogs that go free of cost to serving and ex-serving Australian Defence Force members dealing with PTSD, depression and anxiety. Recently, he’s pioneered a programme training retired racing greyhounds as therapy dogs for US police officers.
Steve has appeared on ABC’s Catalyst, Celebrity Dog School, 60 Minutes and The 7:30 Report. He’s authored Working Dog Heroes, a heartfelt memoir of his adventures. He’s won championships, judged international competitions, and lectured everywhere from Taronga Zoo to the Mt Everest Kennel Club in Kathmandu. But despite all the accolades, Steve’s attitude hasn’t changed since he was that 12-year-old kid with Sooty. As he says, he wakes up every morning and does what he’d do if he had $30 million in the bank.
As we celebrate 10 years of the Top Dog Film Festival, Steve Austin’s story reminds us that dogs aren’t just our companions—they’re powerful forces for good in the world. From rescue dogs to elite conservation teams saving World Heritage sites, Steve has devoted his life to showing what’s possible when someone truly believes in a dog’s potential. He’s not just a dog trainer—he’s a conservation hero who happens to speak fluent dog. And honestly, is there anything cooler than that?
Visit Steve and Nicki’s website here
