Man dressed in dog costume
YouTube

Man Spends $15.7K on Ultra-Realistic Dog Costume to Live as Animal

A Japanese man has spent $15.7K on an ultra-realistic dog costume to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming an animal. The man chose to become a canine, wearing a life-size collie suit and living out his Lassie-like fantasy.

Man lives out animal fantasy in realistic costume

So real it might fool you… At first glance, you might think you were looking at an actual collie. It’s only when you look closer, at the dog’s golden nails, that you might realize there’s something slightly off with this canine.

That’s because what you are seeing is an incredibly realistic costume, one specially built for a Japanese man wanting to fulfill an animal fantasy, the Daily Mail reported.

A Japanese man named Toko-san has had a lifelong fantasy of transforming into an animal, Yahoo! reported.

Collie video goes viral

This all came to the public’s attention when a bizarre video clip of Toko-san dressed in the collie costume appeared on YouTube. It quickly went viral in Japan, then spread to local news and television reports.

The video shows what appears to be a collie walking across a wooden floor. But immediately there is something apparently wrong with this dog’s gait, as if it were suffering from hip dysplasia or something. The dog turns to face the camera, falls back on its haunches, then settles on its front paws. Is this poor dog in pain?

A sign beside the dog, written in Japanese and English, reads: “Nice to meet you.”

The dog inches around and re-settles. But then the dog uses its front paw to push away the paper on the sign, and reveal another message. There’s something almost human about the movement. The next page reads: “I became a rough collie because I wanted to be an animal.”

Man explains his animal fantasy

“My favorite is quadrupedal animals, especially cute ones,” Toko-san said in an interview with Mynavi.

“Among them, I thought that a big animal close to me [my size] would be good – considering that it would be a realistic model,” Toko-san continued. “So I decided to make it a dog. I made it a collie because it looks real when I put it on.”

Toko-san said another reason he chose a collie costume was that the long hair can “mislead the human figure.”

He added that collies are “my favorite breed of dog.”

Man spends $15.7 K to live a dog’s life

Toko-san hired an agency called Zeppet and paid them $15,700 to create an ultra-realistic collie costume. The company specializes in models for movies, commercials, television, mascots, and amusement facilities.

The company spent 40 days creating the lifelike outfit.

Toko-san reportedly went through multiple rounds of meetings and fittings for the costume, including revisions to get it just right.