Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani holds his dog Decoy during the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball World Series championship parade on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Los Angeles.
10:28 JST, November 2, 2024
NEW YORK (AP) — As fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers crowded into the World Series victory parade in Los Angeles on Friday, many had their eyes on most valuable player Freddie Freeman. But in the mix was another MVP: the Dodgers’ most valuable pet: Decoy Ohtani, Shohei’s dog.
The much-discussed Decoy, a Dutch Kooikerhondje, was nestled in Ohtani’s arms on the top portion of a double-decker parade bus.
Decoy has become a fixture of Dodgers and dog fandom. The pup was sitting on Ohtani’s lap when he learned he was the first Major League Baseball player ever to be unanimously voted Most Valuable Player twice, which he achieved while playing for the Los Angeles Angels.
Decoy was also featured in Ohtani’s Instagram post after the win, with photos of the dog being taken for a walk among fall leaves and looking dizzy in bed, just after footage from the Dodgers’ champagne party.
After Ohtani subsequently signed a record $700 million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers, some of the first questions reporters had for him were about the dog. At a press conference, Japanese-born Ohtani revealed his pet’s name — in Japanese: Dekopin, but suggested Decoy would be easier for Americans to pronounce.
It is also an appropriate name for a member of this Dutch duck hunting breed. It is believed that the English word ‘decoy’ comes from the Dutch term ‘de cage’, which means ‘the cage’.
The Dutch Kooikerhondje (pronounced NAY’-dehr-lahn-seh KOY’-kehr-hahnd-jeh) was initially trained to attract the attention of ducks and then lure them into net-covered canals so hunters could catch them. Look at many a Dutch old master painting, and if you see a small, brown and white, spaniel-like dog with long ears, you have probably seen an ancestor of today’s Kooikerhondje.
Owners say the breed is lively and smart.
Smart enough, for example, to perform the ceremonial first pitch in front of nearly 54,000 people, as Decoy did during a Dodgers-Orioles game in August.
Decoy’s portrait may not hang on a museum wall, but he has been immortalized in an Ohtani bobblehead. The dog was also granted a special, super-sized “visa” last winter during a visit to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo.
