The RCMP has announced the winners of this year’s “Name the Puppy” contest.
Innisfail’s RCMP Police Dog Service Training Centre (PDSTC) made the announcement last week after receiving 3,197 entries from across Canada for 10 German Shepherd puppies.
For the past decade Canadian children have been providing names for RCMP Police Service Dogs.
This year young Canadians were asked to make submissions that bean with the letter “D.”
The winners and their successful entries are:
Dief: Rachel Tobin, age 12, Witless Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador
Drey: Mitchell Morrison, age 10, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Dale: Kayla Morehouse, age 9, Lake George, New Brunswick
Dragon: Christie Kwong, age 10, Montreal, Quebec
Deacon: Meghan Hickey, age 8, Oshawa, Ontario
Dene: Daniel Len, age 10, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
Diego: Holt Wood, age 13, Rivers, Manitoba
Doc: Meegan Hood, age 8, Carnduff, Saskatchewan
Deuce: Caleb Peretic, age 16, Edmonton, Alberta
Dane: Alexandra Robertson, age 9, Revelstoke, British Columbia
The winners will each receive an 8 by 10inch laminated photograph of their officially named puppy, an official RCMP ball cap, a plush dog named "Justice” after the first puppy from the force’s breeding program that graduated as a RCMP service dog, and a certificate.
RCMP Cpl. Scott Chapman, who heads the breeding program at the Innisfail training centre, said dog handlers across the country will be personally presenting the winners with their prizes over the next two to three months.
Innisfail’s RCMP Police Dog Service Training Centre is the national training centre in for all RCMP police dog teams.
Currently, there are 135 multi-purpose operational dog teams in Canada and 24 specialty dogs that detect narcotics or explosives.
The RCMP Police Service Dog Breeding Program has produced over 140 working dogs that have been in service with the RCMP, 98 working dogs with other agencies and 38 breeding females for the program.
