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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Outdoors blog

The tough bird dog trainers aren’t chilled by a storm

Cheney-area dog trainer Dan Hoke works a field trial bird dog by horseback in Lincoln County as a weather front moved into the region.   (Rich Landers)
Cheney-area dog trainer Dan Hoke works a field trial bird dog by horseback in Lincoln County as a weather front moved into the region. (Rich Landers)

HUNTING -- He saw the storm coming Wednesday, but he had eight dogs scheduled for training and he welcomed the wind and snow flurries as a learning experience.

"You can't just train hunting dogs when it's nice," said Dan Hoke of Dunfur Kennel off the I-90 Four Lakes Exit .  "Sooner or later you're going to have to hunt or run a field trial in difficult weather, and you want your dog to be accustomed to it."

But when the storm bloomed into a full-fledged blizzard, he loaded the horses and dogs in the trailer and beat it out of the lonesome Lincoln County scablands.

"Being in the field in a storm isn't so bad, but you don't want to kill yourself and your dogs on the slick roads getting home."



Rich Landers
Rich Landers joined The Spokesman-Review in 1977. He is the Outdoors editor for the Sports Department writing and photographing stories about hiking, hunting, fishing, boating, conservation, nature and wildlife and related topics.

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