Far from Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog (1995)

John and Katherine McCormick relocate from Vancouver to the coast of British Columbia, where sailing enthusiast John teaches their two sons, 16-year-old son Angus and 9-year-old son Silas, basic seamanship and outdoor survival skills. Angus rescues and adopted a stray Golden Labrador, names him Yellow, and considers him to be his best friend, even though John and Katherine aren't so sure he is responsible enough to care for him. But he talks them into letting him keep him. One day while John, Angus, and Yellow are out on the ocean in their boat, they drift right into a storm with hurricane-force winds, and a huge wave swallows the boat. John is found almost right away and taken to the hospital, but Angus and Yellow are nowhere to be found because they are in the lifeboat that they had with them. It drifts them to nearby land, which is a strange place that seems far from any civilization. Their abilities to survive in the wild are put to the test. As they fend off wild animals, build a shelter, and signal for help, John and Katherine work with the Coast Guard in a desperate search for them.—Todd Baldridge