Union County youth invited to name Oregon State Police K-9 in La Grande

Union County is about to gain a new conservation tool with four legs, and Oregon State Police is asking young people to help give it a name before the dog goes to work in La Grande.

The 1-year-old red Labrador retriever is now training in OSP’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation K-9 program. Until now, handlers have simply called him Good Dog, but the agency wants an official name that fits his job in northeastern Oregon. The contest is open to children ages 9 through 17, and entries must be submitted through an OSP online form by June 14.

OSP said the name should reflect wildlife, fish or the outdoors, a clue to the work ahead. After the entry period closes, finalists will be chosen and a statewide vote will determine the winner. The youth who submits the winning name will get to meet the dog and receive recognition items from Oregon State Police.

The naming contest is only the hook. The deeper story for La Grande and Union County is that OSP is placing a specialized enforcement resource here, one that is built for conservation work in remote country where deputies and troopers can face long gaps, rough terrain and limited access. Fish and Wildlife dogs receive training in wildlife detection, human tracking and area searches, and OSP says they can help investigators with poaching cases, missing persons and other criminal activity. Their detection range includes deer, elk, bear, turkey, waterfowl, salmon, sturgeon, firearms, shell casings and other items with gunpowder residue.

OSP’s Fish and Wildlife Division says its officers are tasked with conserving Oregon’s wildlife and natural resources, and they work from boats, 4x4 vehicles, aircraft, snowmobiles, horses and ATVs. That makes a dog in La Grande especially useful across the kind of scattered terrain that defines much of eastern Oregon.

The broader K-9 program is already established in the state. OSP’s K-9 page lists Fish and Wildlife dogs Buck in La Grande and Scout in Bend, alongside other working dogs assigned to drug detection, SWAT and explosive detection. The program began in 2018 with Buck, who has since retired, and a January 2023 OSP newsletter introduced Scout as the newest member of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation K-9 team with support from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Oregon Wildlife Foundation.

At that time, Captain Casey Thomas said that adding another wildlife detection K-9 team would provide another asset to address poaching and increase awareness statewide. OSP newsletters have since shown Buck doing public outreach at a Cub Scouts meeting, a Lions Club talk, a school visit and hunter education field days, underscoring the education role that often comes with enforcement. For La Grande, the new dog means more than a naming contest. It adds another visible link between youth outreach and the day-to-day work of protecting wildlife across Union County and beyond.