Steve Drinkwater & Agility Success Seminars

Background Information

Steve has been involved with competing, teaching/instructing, judging and administrating Agility for 18 years and has been a professional Agility seminar presenter for 7 years.  Steve has taught over 30 separate seminar days in places as close as New Zealand and of course here in Australia, and as far away as Malaysia and England.  He is a Senior Judge and a Board Member of the Agility Dog Association of Australia Ltd (ADAA) and a successful Agility handler with his Australian Working Kelpie, "Tommy, AAC, MAAD12, GD SD".

Other achievements include being a current Council Member for the IFCS (representing Oceania), a Judge and Official at the 2004 IFCS World Agility Championships (WAC) in Spain and Chief Judge at the 2006 IFCS World Agility Championships in Netherlands.

Over the last 17/18 odd years Steve has witnessed the sport grow and mature from the handler running a simple course of nine obstacle with the dog on the left, to the complex 20 obstacle courses of today with precise turns, fancy footwork, and enough terminology to confuse NASA.  Steve's long involvement with Agility in all aspects has placed him in a good position to understand the needs of not just those aspiring to win a National Championship or a World Agility Championship, but to also connect with the grass roots and handlers new to the sport!

In recent years Steve has been a fan and student of the Greg Derrett style of handling and the Susan Garrett style and methods of training.  Steve's respect and admiration for these two people are apparent throughout his seminars as his shares many of their ideas and handling moves.

As a clicker trainer for the past 8 plus years, Steve has a good understanding of how to use this tool to its best advantage.  Steve believes the clicker is just another tool and not a magic wand!  It needs to be used with sound training practices, consistency and "rules of play". Steve teaches that the clicker is a precise tool used to gain the initial understanding when training a new behaviour or to help pin point and solve a specific problem.  According to Steve the real learning for the dog comes through the handler providing a "High Rate of Reinforcement" to the dog and through careful thought with regards to the "Placement of the Reward".

Many seminar presenters in the Agility world specialise in either "training" (clicker, contacts, poles, start line) or "handling" (Front Cross, False Turn, Lead-out Pivot).  Steve's success with his own dog in the ring and many years as a club instructor allows him to teach first hand with authority in the two different realms of "handling" and "training".

Steve provides comprehensive training notes and handling sequences (electronic pdf format) at all of his seminars (organiser's responsibility to photo copy and hand out).  A maximum of 12 handlers with dogs is preferred.  Auditors (watching with no dogs) are encouraged to walk the sequences  and participate at Steve's seminars.

Booking and Fees

Steve does not charge for traveling days or days off.  Steve's daily rate can vary depending on the country, venue, time of the year, number of days required and his own  busy schedule/calendar!  

Please contact Steve (e-mail best method) to ask about dates/availability and to request a daily rate/fee. 

As an approximate indicator you can expect Steve to ask the equivalent of USD$350.00 per day (8 hours). 

As an approximate indicator, you can expect Steve to ask the equivalent of USD$200.00 per mini workshop (3/4 hours). 

Mini workshop Ideas

Foundation Skills

Crate Training

Basic Shaping Skills

Advanced Shaping Skills

Double Box Jumping/Handling skills

Weave Poles (Susan Garrett 2 x 2 method)

Contact Training (Susan Garret nose touch to target)

Contact Steve

E-mail: steve@agilityclick.com

Phone: +61 7 3281 6872 or +61 7 3202 2361

Fax: +61 7 3281 0016

Mobile/Cell: +61 418 711 943