The Lake County Sheriff’s Office announced its newest canines will be named Axel and Echo after the names were chosen by Lake County students in a contest.
The sheriff’s office said nearly 400 students in Lake County submitted names between March 4 and March 25.
The names selected for the two newest canines are Canine Axel and Canine Echo, according to Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli.
Deerfield High School Sophomore Ethan Jacobs as well as Vernon Hills Hawthorn Middle School sixth-graders Matthew Prigorenko and Carson Alper selected the name Axel.
Millburn Elementary School kindergartener Charlotte Regner selected the name Echo.
All four students will be invited to participate in Echo and Axel’s swearing-in ceremony in late June following the completion of the initial training, Covelli said.
Deputy Tyler Girmscheid was partnered with Canine Echo and Deputy Kevin Gauer was partnered with Canine Axel.
The two deputies and their new canine partners are completing an intense eight-week initial training program at Tops K9 in Grayslake.
The training consists of canine psychology, obedience, agility, tracking, scent detection and more.
“We always enjoy getting the youth involved in various aspects of our office and I have to say, the names they submitted were terrific! Some of the submissions had inspiring meaning behind the names and some of the submissions had us chuckling,” Lake County Sheriff John Idleburg said.
“We are looking forward to having Ethan, Matthew, Carson, and Charlotte join us at their swearing-in ceremony,” Idleburg said.
Canines Axel and Echo join their other sheriff’s canine partners Dax, Duke, Danno, Ryker and Boomer to bring the total number of Lake County sheriff’s canines to seven.