Innisfail, Alta, March 22, 2007 - Ten Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) puppies now have new identities or at least new names following the seventh national "Name the Puppy" Contest held by the RCMP Police Dog Service Training Centre (PDSTC) in Innisfail, Alberta. Once again the contest was very successful with more than 5,000 individual entries.
This year, the selection committe was faced with an additional challenge during the selection process; how to pick two winning entries from among the more than 300 classroom entries. According to the officer-in-charge of the PDSTC, Inspector Lawrence Aimoe, the committee had to rethink its approach.
"The classroom entries were of such calibre that we were unable to select only two winners, as was previously the case. Based on creativity alone, we decided to pick two additional winners; a first in the history of the puppy naming contest, " declared Inspector Aimoe.
As in previous years, participants came up with original and unique names. For multiple entries of the same name, the committee selected one winner by draw. The 10 successful entries and the winners are:
Taz : Laura Pardy, age 9, Glovertown, Nfld.
Tango : Noah Parsons, age 9, Truro, N.S.
Topaz : Molly Johnson, age 11, Prince Albert, Sask.
Tank : Sofia Lopez, age 11, Ottawa, Ont.
Taser : Hailey Patterson, age 9, Whitehorse, Y.T.
Thunder : Karissa L. Sewell, age 6, Thompson, Man.
True : Amber Walsh, age 10, Maple Ridge, B.C.
Tony : Breanna Moffat, age 6, Williams Lake, B.C.
Tracker : David Ly, age 11, Innisfail, Alta.
Tiger : Stephanie Utatqaq, age 8, Baker Lake, Nunavut
The four winning classroom entries are St. Paul School, Newmarket, Ont.; Father Lacombe School, Lacombe, Alta.; Rennie's River Elementary School, St. John's, Nfld.; Chilcotin Road Elementary School, Williams Lake, B.C.
.The top ten winners will receive a 5×7-inch laminated photograph of their "officially" named puppy, an official RCMP ball cap, a plush dog named "Justice" and a certificate.
Each classroom will receive an 8×10-inch laminated picture of RCMP puppies, a a plush dog named "Justice" and a certificate. Please note that other entries will also be used to name future puppies.
On behalf of the PDSTC staff and the puppies, Inspector Aimoe would like to thank all the young Canadians who entered the contest and expresses his sincere appreciation for their efforts.
PDSTC is the national training centre in Canada for all RCMP police dog teams. Currently, there are 133 RCMP police dog service teams from coast to coast to coast. In the last 71 years, RCMP dog teams have saved hundreds of Canadians' lives.
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For more information, please contact:
Glenn Brown
Pre-Train
RCMP Police Dog Services Training Centre
Phone: 403-227-3346
