NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� As Los Angeles Dodgers fans thronged to victory parade in Los Angeles on Friday, many had their eyes on But in the mix was another MVP 鈥� the Dodgers' most valuable pet: Decoy Ohtani, dog
The much-memed Decoy, a , 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 鈥� and dog 鈥� fandom. The pup was when he learned he was the as Most Valuable Player, which he achieved while with the Los Angeles Angels.
Decoy also featured in Ohtani鈥檚 post-victory with photos of the dog being taken for a walk amid autumnal foliage and looking groggy in bed just after images of the Dodgers鈥� champagne celebration.
After Ohtani went on to 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 鈥� in Japanese, Dekopin, but he suggested that Decoy would be easier for Americans to pronounce.
It's also a fitting name for a member of this Dutch duck-hunting breed. Indeed, the English word 鈥渄ecoy鈥� is thought to come from the Dutch term 鈥渄e kooi,鈥� which means 鈥渢he cage.鈥�
The Nederlandse kooikerhondje (pronounced NAY鈥�-dehr-lahn-seh KOY鈥�-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 .
Clever enough to, for instance, in front of nearly 54,000 people, at a Dodgers-Orioles game in August.
Decoy's portrait might not be hanging on a museum wall, but he's been immortalized in . The pooch also during a visit to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo last winter.
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AP MLB:
Jennifer Peltz, The Associated Press
