ACHO DENE KOE/FORT LIARD - At the RCMP Police Dog Service Training Centre in Innisfail, Alta., there's a six-week-old German Shepherd puppy with the name Coda thanks to Laura Nelson of Fort Liard.

Nelson, 9, is one of 10 winners of this year's nationwide Name the Puppy contest. For the past nine years Canadian students have been asked to help provide names for RCMP police service dogs.

Laura Nelson of Fort Liard is one of 10 winners of this year's national Name the Puppy Contest held by the RCMP Police Dog Service Training Centre. Nelson's winning name was Coda. - photo courtesy of Echo Dene School

This year students were challenged to come up with names that started with the letter C. The names had to be no more than two syllables or nine letters long.

Nelson's submission of Coda was chosen from 9,125 entries.

"I was happy," said Nelson about having her name picked.

At Echo Dene School in Fort Liard all students aged 16 and younger in every grade were encouraged to send in a name. Nelson got the idea for Coda from the animated movie Brother Bear. In the movie Coda is the name of a grizzly cub.

Nelson, who doesn't have any dogs of her own, said she was excited to be able to name a puppy. Nelson has seen an RCMP dog in person. One came to the school with its handler for a presentation.

Nelson said she thinks because Coda is a puppy she will spend a lot of time playing. Nelson also hopes to meet Coda one day.

The Name the Puppy contest was devised as an opportunity for the RCMP to have a positive interaction with young children, said Cpl. Scott Chapman, the breeding program manger at the training centre.

The kennel staff open all of the envelopes and sort all of the names. If there are repeats one of the submissions is pulled from a hat.

"They basically picked the ones they liked best," Chapman said.

Coda turned six weeks old on April 22 and weighs between eight and nine pounds. In the first week of May she will be sent to live with an RCMP officer who isn't a member of the dog section.

The member and a dog handler in the area will provide Coda with basic training and familiarize her to different people, animals and situations, Chapman said. When Coda is between 12 to 16 months old she will return to the RCMP Police Dog Service Training Centre to be tested.

If she passes she will spend 85 working days being trained with a new handler. As a working dog, Coda's duties could include tracking and searching for people, detecting narcotics or explosives or searching for guns and evidence with human scent on it.

Of the 10 dogs named in the contest only three or four will pass the testing, Chapman said. The other dogs lacking in one skill area will be sold to other police forces as working dogs. The remainder will be found homes as pets.

In recognition of winning the contest Nelson will receive a laminated photo of Coda, a RCMP ball cap, a plush dog and a certificate.