Dogs have an incredible ability to track moving objects and catch frisbees and balls thrown in their direction. Upworthy even highlighted a dog that caught a home run at a Dodger spring training game earlier this year.
So, at this point, it isn’t that surprising to find a dog that could pass for an outfielder. But we may have found the first dog that could stand at home plate and hit a home run. Meet Pepper, a 7-year-old Australian Cattle Dog who lives in Marblehead, Massachusetts.
For the past three years, Pepper has trained to hit Daniel Martin’s pitches at a car garage, and her swing is pretty amazing.
“She typically swings when a ball is thrown quickly overhand to her, but will also swing at the ball when it is tossed to her with a hockey stick,” Martin said, according to Yahoo. “Her batting ratio is so good that it clearly isn’t a fluke. When you watch slow-motion video of her playing, she has her eyes on the ball even as it approaches her quickly. She’s very talented.”
Pepper is funny because she swings so hard she’s forced to spin around in a circle (unlike a human, who can take a rip at a ball and stay in the batter’s box).
A big reason why Pepper has been able to pick up the game of baseball is her breed. Australian Cattle Dogs are extremely intelligent. According to Heeler Info, the Australian Cattle Dog is ranked 10th out of 138 breeds in terms of intelligence and can learn new commands in as little as five repetitions.
Who knows, maybe with a bit of training, Pepper could be the first dog to hit a curveball.