{"id":375886,"date":"2026-08-19T19:58:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T19:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/375886\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T19:58:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T19:58:16","slug":"orlandos-ember-makes-final-four-in-tsa-cutest-canine-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/375886\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando’s Ember makes Final Four in TSA Cutest Canine contest"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 An explosives detection dog at Orlando International Airport is competing for the title of TSA\u2019s \u201cCutest Canine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ember, a 4-year-old Labrador retriever, received the most votes among Transportation Security Administration employees in the Southeast, earning her a spot in the contest\u2019s Final Four.<\/p>\n

She faced Epic, a Labrador retriever from Pittsburgh International Airport, in the semifinal round.<\/p>\n

Ember works alongside TSA explosives detection canine handler Oscar Urdininea to help protect travelers at Orlando International Airport.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmber has high drive and is a very friendly dog that truly enjoys coming to work and searching all areas in and around the airport,\u201d Urdininea said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Bolt DFW Airport <\/p>\n

When she is not working, Ember enjoys playing with retired TSA canine Bona, eating steak chunks and playing with her squeaky bone.<\/p>\n

TSA uses specially trained canine teams to detect explosives and explosive materials at airports and other transportation facilities nationwide.<\/p>\n

The agency plans to announce the contest winner Aug. 26, which is National Dog Day.<\/p>\n

Editorial note: Ember\u2019s semifinal voting window ended at noon Wednesday. TSA\u2019s release says the final round begins at noon if she advances, but her semifinal result should be confirmed before publishing a current voting call to action.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here<\/a> to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.<\/p>\n

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TOP STORIES FROM WFTV CHANNEL 9<\/p>\n

\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 An explosives detection dog at Orlando International Airport is competing for the title of TSA\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[147,145,151449,151451,28,151452,139,141,3847,140,151450,144,146],"class_list":["post-375886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-central-florida","tag-channel-9","tag-ember","tag-explosives-detection-dog","tag-florida","tag-labrador-retriever","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-international-airport","tag-orlando-news","tag-tsa-cutest-canine-contest","tag-wftv","tag-wftv-channel-9"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}