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

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.”