Underdog

Doug Butler is a hardscrabble Vermont dairy farmer with an offbeat passion -- dog mushing. A veritable folk hero, Doug's ease with cows, dogs and people is a joy to behold. And when he trains his team of mutts on the family farm with a dream to compete at the world championships in Alaska, his teenage exuberance seems to erase the tired lines on his sixty-five year old face. Yet the demands of being a small-scale family farmer in a changing world are constant, and Doug has never once left his cows for more than a few days. And behind the charming cocktail of racy anecdotes and repeated jokes is a darker picture than Doug would ever choose to reveal. Keenly aware of the fate of the other family farms that used to dot the landscape, Doug has managed for years to play one creditor off against the next to survive another season.