New Rochester, NH Police Dog Has a Name and You May Believe It… Or Not

A name has been selected for the 13-week-old female German Shepherd puppy being trained to become a police dog in Rochester, NH.

Last week, officials at the Rochester Police Department announced their newest addition to their force on Facebook and said people could offer their suggestions for her name. Their post received 681 comments.

After narrowing down the suggestions, the deciding judges were Officer Dwayne Hatch's two young children. He will be the K9 officer working with the puppy.

The name selected was Ripley!

Within five hours of announcing the name of the puppy and posting the above photos, the police department's Facebook post had more than 1,100 reactions, 74 comments and 62 shares.

Hatch, who completed his training at the NH Police Academy in 2014, will be working with the Working Dog Foundation, which provides ongoing, consistent training for New Hampshire Police K9 Teams.

Hatch received his tracking certification with K9 Gunner last month.  He was selected to work with K9 Officer Keith Mackenzie and Gunner, who is a bloodhound because Hatch took over the reins for Mackenzie in May when he retired.

Here is a photo of Hatch and Ripley together which was posted online last week:

According to the Rochester Police Department's website, their Patrol Services Bureau is made up of 26 patrol officers, two motor vehicle officers, one K-9 officer, four sergeants, three lieutenants, one captain, one crime analyst and one support person.