Nikki, Wild Dog of the North

Plot

Nikki and his kind master, Andre Dupas, are traveling via canoe through the Canadian Rockies. When Nikki encounters Neewa, a bear cub that has lost its mother, Andre ties the two animals together, plops them in the canoe, and heads for the rapids. When the two animals become separated from Andre, the unlikely pair must learn to survive in the wilderness.

What is initially a relationship of hate and incompatibility transforms into one of compromise and friendship between species. Encounters with timber wolves, lynx, wolverines, Grizzly bears and many other wild animals are vividly photographed and give viewers a real sense of life in the wild. When Neewa begins his long winter hibernation, Nikki sets off alone on a desperate hunt for food. Man's scent leads him not to the friendly Andre Dupas, but to an angry trader who attempts to trap and poison him, eventually capturing him and training him as a fighting dog.

Reception

It won the 1962 Eddie from the American Cinema Editors for Best Edited Special (Documentary).