The Dogs of El Niño: The Madeline Island Sled Dog Race (2001)

'Dogs are like people. They like to be asked to do something. If you ask them instead of telling them, it boosts their confidence, and they run faster.' So says dogsled racer Mark Dunlap in "The Dogs of El Nino: The Madeline Island Sled Dog Race,". Madeline Island, a tiny speck of land in Lake Superior, is tourist Mecca in the summer. In the winter population shrinks to 200. But for one weekend in February, the human and dog population increases considerably. 'The Dogs of El Nino' takes place in an unseasonably warm year, the year of the El Nino weather system. The ice road to the island is melted, but that doesn't discourage the mushers who assemble for the race. We meet Arne Engstrom, a 60-ish farmer and county commissioner, who started racing after recovering from brain surgery, and tells how it helped him overcome grief over his daughter's death. Bill Smith, a musher who 'owns no dogs but scoops for 60,' proudly displays a polar bear bite mark on his dog food-stirring paddle. Sharon and Larry Brunzlik own 30 dogs, and their 16-month old daughter toddles nonchalantly in the chaos of the wagging huskies. "The Dogs of El Nino" is a character study about people with a profound respect for nature and a great love for their animals. It's also a story about the things people do to keep from going crazy over a long, icebound winter.