The winners of the RCMP’s 2025 Name the Puppy contest have been announced.
The contest is held each year to provide names for puppies being raised at the RCMP’s Police Dog Services Training Centre (PDSTC) in Innisfail, Alta.
Two German shepherd puppies are seen playing in the snow at the RCMP’s Police Dog Services Training Centre in Innisfail, Alta.
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This year’s contest ran this year from Feb. 19 to March 19 and drew more than 10,000 entries, the RCMP said.
Children between the ages of four and 14 were asked to submit their name suggestions online. All of the names had to begin with the letter ‘A,’ and one winner was chosen from each of Canada’s 13 provinces and territories.
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Here is a list of this year’s winning names, along with the name of the person who submitted it and the province or territory they live in:
- Ace – Maxime Bellencourt (Yukon)
- Argo – Rachael Marche (Newfoundland & Labrador)
- Arctic – Emmett Campbell (Prince Edward Island)
- Anouk – Madison Zamrykut (Manitoba)
- Action – Chance Jerome (Alberta)
- Agent – Samuel Bailey (Quebec)
- Atim – Brianne Bell (Saskatchewan)
- Ash – Quentin Qammaniq (Nunavut)
- August – Nora Boken (Northwest Territories)
- Anchor – Elisa Zirtilides (British Columbia)
- Alfie – Duncan Hansford (Nova Scotia)
- Adler – Denny Dewar (Ontario)
- Addy – Paisley Leger (New Brunswick)
Along with being given the honour of naming a puppy, the RCMP will also be presenting each of the 13 winners with a photo of the puppy, along with a plush dog named Justice and an RCMP water bottle.
The RCMP said it received more than 10,000 entries in this year’s Name the Puppy contest.
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Names that did not win will still be considered for other puppies born this year, the RCMP says.
The RCMP Police Dog Service Training Centre is the training centre for all RCMP police dog teams in Canada.
Dogs that successfully pass their training can go on to be used for such tasks as tracking criminals, drug detection, explosives detection and avalanche search and rescue.
Next year’s Name the Puppy contest is expected to open in early 2026 and all the names entered will need to begin with a ‘B.’
