A Japanese man who spent round $14,000 on an eerily real looking canine costume is standing agency within the face of on-line abuse.

The man, who goes by the identify of Toco, not too long ago made his doggy debut in public in a video he uploaded to his YouTube channel titled "I want to be an animal".

Toco is seen sporting a life-like border collie costume as he interacts whereas on all fours with people and canines alike.

He performs tips in alternate for pets and treats and tries to befriend canines.

Not everybody has taken kindly to the video, which has thus far notched up a formidable 3.8 million web page views.

Taking to the Japanese social media platform X, one person wrote: “Men will actually spend $20,000 to remodel right into a border collie as an alternative of going to remedy."

Another jibed: “A Japanese man spent over $20K for this border collie costume.

“You cannot convince me this isn’t some weird sex thing.”

While Toco is disappointed by the comments, he's refusing to let the haters break him.

“I’m just sad that people can think that,” the border collie enthusiast said, adding: “I love animals and enjoy play-acting like a collie.”

He added: “This is my hobby, so I will carry on. It makes me happy and other people happy, too.”

Toco hasn't always been so confident in his beliefs. He told the Mirror in December: "I hardly ever inform my buddies as a result of I'm afraid they may assume I'm bizarre. My family and friends appeared very shocked to be taught I turned an animal."

The doggy imitator has been harboring this "fantasy of changing into an animal" since childhood, and in recent years he has learnt how to eat fake dog food, move in the costume and even jump on a hammock - although he acknowledges certain activities remain difficult to perform.

Aside from being his favorite breed of dog, Toco said he decided on a collie costume because its long hair can “mislead the human figure”.

The costume was made by Zeppet, a Japanese agency known for creating sculptures and models for films.

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