On this topic, an absolutely wonderful family movie on the topic:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0397313/
I will say that watching the bonus footage on the DVD/BluRay is highly worth the time. Most of the scenes were filmed in the extreme Canadian cold, which was a logistical nightmare for the filming crew and actors. Today, the same movie would be basically all green screen and CGI.
I still don't grok how they trained the dogs to "act" as well as they did. Absolutely phenomenal work from the trainers and dogs themselves.
That movie messed me up as a kid. Fantastic OST, though!