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 β 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 β and dog β fandom. The pup was on Ohtaniβs 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 Ohtaniβs 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 Dodgersβ champagne celebration.
After Ohtani went on to sign a record US$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 β 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 βdecoyβ is thought to come from the Dutch term βde kooi,β which means βthe cage.β
The Nederlandse kooikerhondje (pronounced NAYβ-dehr-lahn-seh KOYβ-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 βvisaβ during a visit to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo last winter.
More than half of human trafficking incidents remained unsolved in Canada by police as the number of incidents increased over the past decade, according to new data released Friday.
More than 44 years after human remains were found in a rural area of Markham, Ont., police are revealing that the deceased was an inmate who had escaped prison just a month before his body was found.
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Manitoba RCMP are looking for more information after the remains of an infant were identified.
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Toronto police say 59 suspects are facing a total of 300 charges in connection with an auto theft and re-vinning probe.
In the early days of Russiaβs invasion of Ukraine, Adam Oake, a Canadian with no prior military training, sold all of his Toronto Maple Leafs memorabilia to buy a plane ticket.
Children's hospitals across the country are seeing an unusual increase in the number of serious and more complicated cases of walking pneumonia affecting much younger patients, according to medical experts.
A video that purports to show election fraud in Georgia by a man who claims to be from Haiti is fake and the work of "Russian influence actors," U.S. intelligence officials said Friday.
Manitoba RCMP are looking for more information after the remains of an infant were identified.
Toronto police say 59 suspects are facing a total of 300 charges in connection with an auto theft and re-vinning probe.
More than half of human trafficking incidents remained unsolved in Canada by police as the number of incidents increased over the past decade, according to new data released Friday.
In the early days of Russiaβs invasion of Ukraine, Adam Oake, a Canadian with no prior military training, sold all of his Toronto Maple Leafs memorabilia to buy a plane ticket.
A CN train derailed near Beiseker, Alta., on Friday morning.
Police in northern Ontario say a razor blade was found in a child's candy on Halloween night.
A video that purports to show election fraud in Georgia by a man who claims to be from Haiti is fake and the work of "Russian influence actors," U.S. intelligence officials said Friday.
A gangland shootout set off a clash involving hundreds in the city of Poitiers overnight, leaving five people injured, French officials said on Friday, highlighting the challenges faced by the new government in tackling violent crime.
Donald Trump has made his opposition to transgender rights central to his closing argument before Election Day, using demeaning language and misrepresentations to paint an exceedingly narrow slice of the U.S. population as a threat to national identity.
Turkish prosecutors accuse 47 doctors, nurses and other medical workers of killing 10 newborns since last year through neglect or malpractice that aimed to defraud the country's medical system.
A concrete roof above the entrance of a railway station in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad collapsed Friday, killing at least 13 people, with more feared buried under the rubble.
Russia's top diplomat on Friday hosted his North Korean counterpart for talks amid reports that Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to Russia to support its military in the war in Ukraine.
Canada will need a profound shift in political priorities if the country is to ramp up spending to meet its international security obligations.
Residential school survivors are calling on Canada to criminalize residential school denialism, echoing one of the findings in a report about unmarked graves and burial sites associated with the institutions.
Jagmeet Singh says the NDP will not support the Bloc QuΓ©bΓ©cois and Conservative leaders to help them bring down the Liberal government.
Bird flu has been spreading faster in the European Union this season than a milder 2023, raising concerns of a repeat of previous crises that led to the deaths of tens of millions of poultry and renewing fears that it could expand to humans.
A regional public health department in Idaho is no longer providing COVID-19 vaccines to residents in six counties after a narrow decision by its board.
B.C.βs Interior Health Authority was fined nearly $250,000 after 10 workers were exposed to illicit substances at a hospital in Penticton.
Talented though they may be, monkeys will never type out the complete works of William Shakespeare, or even a short book, a new study suggests.
As Phobos, one of Marsβ two moons, passed in front of the sun, it cast a lumpy, potato-shaped shadow on the sunβs face as well as on the Martian surface.
The oldest known surviving tombstone in the United States is an elaborate display of wealth β an intricately carved slab of black limestone initially laid in the floor of the second church of Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent British settlement in North America.
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Air Canada on Friday raised its annual core profit forecast and announced share buybacks, as the country's largest carrier benefits from strong demand for international travel.
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Matthew Horsnell began falling asleep for no reason when he was in sixth grade.
A Windsor teenβs social media post showing off a distinctive Windsor pizza topping has gone viral, drawing millions of views worldwide and sparking new curiosity about Windsor-style pizza.
Thieves blew open the door of an art gallery in the southern Netherlands and stole two works from a famous series of screen prints by American pop artist Andy Warhol and left two more badly damaged in the street as they fled the scene of the botched heist, the gallery owner said Friday.
Hana Wakimoto shot a 4-under 68 on Friday to maintain her lead after the second round of the LPGA's Toto Japan Classic.
MLB star Freddie Freeman, a dual Canada-U.S. citizen, has made history as a member of the World Series winning Los Angeles Dodgers.
Australian golfer Jeffrey Guanβs dreams came true in September, as he made his PGA Tour debut. A week later, the 20-year-old was left blinded in one eye after being struck in the face by a golf ball.
Toronto police say 59 suspects are facing a total of 300 charges in connection with an auto theft and re-vinning probe.
Several Ford vehicles have been recalled in Canada due to issues with braking systems, steering and child car seat tethers.
Volkswagen has informed employee representatives that it wants to close at least three plants in Germany, the head of the company's works council said Monday.
A Windsor teenβs social media post showing off a distinctive Windsor pizza topping has gone viral, drawing millions of views worldwide and sparking new curiosity about Windsor-style pizza.
Auston Matthews has come face to face with his look-alike. On Thursday, the Maple Leafs star met seven-year-old Grayson Joseph, who went viral for dressing up as an Auston Matthews hockey card.
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Epcor says it has removed more than 20,000 goldfish from an Edmonton stormwater pond.
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New Brunswicker Jillea Godinβs elaborate cosplay pieces attract thousands to her online accounts, as well as requests from celebrities for their own pieces.
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As October gives way to November, snow is falling on highways in the B.C. Interior, prompting reminders to drive safely in winter conditions.
Concerns are growing about British Columbiaβs local economy as the possibility of another province-wide labour disruption at ports looms.
Toronto police say 59 suspects are facing a total of 300 charges in connection with an auto theft and re-vinning probe.
Drake has released a new music video for his track 'No Face,' and Scarborough residents will likely know exactly where it was filmed.
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow is slamming the province's plan to unilaterally remove bike lanes along some of the city's major streets, calling it 'arbitrary' while warning that it could ultimately make congestion worse.
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SaskPower has been ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for violating workplace safety rules, but the victim won't receive any of the money.
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Police in northern Ontario say a razor blade was found in a child's candy on Halloween night.
The London Fire Department said a blaze that destroyed a south London townhouse Friday may have been caused by a dog left home alone.
Since August 2023, detectives from the Niagara Regional Police Service have been investigating an allegation of sexual assault by a man against a 15-year-old girl.
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One man has been charged following a multi-vehicle crash on Highway 400 that caused traffic backups for hours on Thursday.
Michael LβEnfant, accused of violent sexual assaults, was granted bail on Friday with conditions, including to not have contact with females.
Police charged a 55-year-old man with being drug impaired after a vehicle with two other occupants crashed in Midland Thursday morning.
Windsor police have charged a 25-year-old man with first-degree murder in the death of a 69-year-old man in south-central Windsor.
A Michigan man is set to stand trial next year in connection to the first-degree murder of a Windsor woman.
An update has been provided on the 12 vehicles and one trailer pulled out of the Detroit River last month.
Police on southern Vancouver Island are issuing a warning about the dangers of deer rutting season after a dog was gored to death by a buck earlier this week.
Concerns are growing about British Columbiaβs local economy as the possibility of another province-wide labour disruption at ports looms.
Basketball was Harriette Mackenzie's safe space growing up. She knew from an early age that she was different, and the court was where she could escape.
More than two years after Alannah Brown and Douglas Barker were found dead north of Penticton, police are asking for help identifying a vehicle they believe was associated with the crime.
Dave Lindsey began growing giant pumpkins to bring a bit of magic to his grandkids' Halloween.
A U.S. District Court judge in Montana has sentenced a 27-year-old man from Kelowna, B.C., to 18 months in prison for using fake names to buy guns with the aim of selling them in Canada.
The University of Lethbridge Pronghorn Athletics Annual Safe Ride Home campaign is making a return this year, but with a new name.
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A 40-year-old suspect has been charged with sexual assault following an incident Wednesday in Sault Ste. Marie.
Juanita Migwans β or 'Winnie,' as her family calls her β of M'Chigeeng First Nation has been missing for almost a month.
The City of Greater Sudbury has been chosen to host the Ontario 55+ Summer Games next year.
School staff are being struck more often, students are fighting more frequently, and police are increasingly being called to school grounds, according to data compiled and released this week by the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers' Association.
Newfoundland and Labrador's auditor general has issued a warning about the province's financial position as the government announced it would finish the 2024-25 fiscal year with a higher-than-expected deficit.
Police in Newfoundland and Labrador have charged an off-duty RCMP officer for allegedly driving while impaired, following a crash on Sunday.
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