Action is one of 13 RCMP puppies officially named this year at the national Police Dog Service Training Centre in Innisfail, and the name came courtesy of Alberta’s own Chance Jerome.
Action — Jerome’s winning submission — was announced Thursday as part of the RCMP’s 2025 Name the Puppy contest, which invites children aged 4 to 14 from across the country to help name the force’s future police dogs.
The contest named exactly 13 puppies — one for each province and territory — representing the first pups born at the PDSTC this calendar year.
The Innisfail-based centre, is home to the RCMP’s national Police Dog Breeding Program and trains all police service dog teams serving across the country.
This year’s contest ran from Feb. 19 to March 19 and drew more than 10,000 online submissions. Each name had to start with the letter A, part of a long-standing naming tradition where each year’s litters are named by the alphabet.
"Choosing names for our future Police Service Dogs is a very important role," said Inspector Shawn Boutin, officer in charge of the RCMP’s Police Dog Services, in a statement. "We are thrilled to have kids from across the country help us with this and it is always a highlight to see the submissions start pouring in."
The 13 winning names — one per province and territory — include Argo (Newfoundland and Labrador), Ash (Nunavut), Anouk (Manitoba), Addy (New Brunswick), Ace (Yukon), and Adler (Ontario). Alberta’s Action was among the bolder selections, alongside Agent (Quebec) and Anchor (British Columbia).
Each winner will receive a laminated eight-by-ten-inch photo of the pup they named, a plush RCMP dog toy named Justice, and an RCMP water bottle.
Even entries that weren’t selected might still get their moment: the RCMP says other submitted names may be used for puppies born later in the year. Where multiple entries had the same winning name, a draw determined the final selection.
RCMP Police Service Dogs, all of which are born at the Innisfail centre through the national breeding program, assist in searches for missing persons, tracking suspects, detecting drugs and explosives, and locating evidence.
For those already thinking ahead, names for the 2026 contest must start with the letter B.
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