Meet Decoy Ohtani, perhaps the most valuable pet of the World Series

NEW YORK (AP) — As Los Angeles Dodgers fans thronged to 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, dog of Shohei.

The much-memed Decoy, a Nederlanse kooikerhondje, or Dutch kooikerhondje, was nestled in Ohtani’s arms on the top section of a double-decker parade bus.

Decoy has become a fixture of Dodgers — and dog — fandom. The pup was on Ohtani’s lap when he learned he was the first Major League Baseball player ever to be unanimously selected twice as Most Valuable Player, which he achieved while with the Los Angeles Angels.

Decoy also featured in Ohtani’s post-victory Instagram post, with photos of the dog being taken for a walk amid autumnal foliage and looking groggy in bed just after images of the Dodgers’ champagne celebration.

After Ohtani went on to sign a record $700 million, 10-year deal with the Dodgers, some of the first questions that reporters had for him were about the dog. At a news conference, the Japanese-born Ohtani revealed his pet’s name — in Japanese, Dekopin, but he suggested that Decoy would be easier for Americans to pronounce.

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It’s also a fitting name for a member of this Dutch duck-hunting breed. Indeed, the English word “decoy” is thought to come from the Dutch term “de kooi,” which means “the cage.”

The Nederlandse kooikerhondje (pronounced NAY’-dehr-lahn-seh KOY’-kehr-hahnd-jeh) was initially trained to get ducks’ attention and then lure them into net-covered canals for hunters to catch. Take a look at many a Dutch Old Master painting, and if you spot a smallish, brown and white, spaniel-like dog with long ears, you’ve probably seen an ancestor of today’s kooikerhondje.

Owners say the breed is lively and clever.

Clever enough to, for instance, carry out the ceremonial first pitch in front of nearly 54,000 people, as Decoy did at a Dodgers-Orioles game in August.

Decoy’s portrait might not be hanging on a museum wall, but he’s been immortalized in an Ohtani bobblehead. The pooch also got a special, supersized “visa” during a visit to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo last winter.

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