Watch as man who spent £12,000 turning himself into a collie fails agility test

A Japanese man who spent £12,000 to live as a collie has flunked an agility course for dogs.

Known only as Toco,the dog lover who spent two million Yen – which equates to £12,480 – on a lifelike costume to fulfil his lifelong fantasy of ‘becoming an animal.’

Toco waited for 40 days as the special suits and makeup company Zeppet finished his ‘ultra-realistic’ dog costume in 2022, before finally being able to live his dream. 

Although the anonymous man has, so far, comfortably experienced meeting real dogs and going out for walks while dressed in his costume – it appears a canine agility test has proved to be a struggle for the human-dog hybrid. 

With a cult following of over 61,000 followers on his YouTube channel, Toco uploaded video footage of his quest to successfully jump hurdles and climb A-frames while on all fours in his collie costume. 

In a video – titled “A human turns into a dog! I tried agility in realistic dog costume!” – the man performs a series of agility tests alongside his seemingly puzzled Japanese Akita companion. 

Toco’s first attempted to jump a yellow-steel hurdle, measuring about 40cm high, before crashing down in a heap onto the supporting pole. 

Next, the human-dog hybrid tried to effortlessly glide through a line of colourful weaving poles – before struggling to fit through the first four. 

The third test was in the form of a A-frame. Toco stepped on using his front ‘paws’ to drag himself up and walk forward, before accepting his fate and spiralling backwards onto the ground. 

Both fans and critics flocked to the comments to share their thoughts on Toco testing his agility skills as a dog.  

Commending his efforts, one person wrote, ‘I respect you for getting along so well in this costume,’ while another said, ‘That looked tricky and you still exuded adorableness!’

Meanwhile, critics were quick to slam Toco’s new venture, with one writing: ‘I was surprised by how realistic the dog suit looked…until he moved in it. It looks like a robot.’

Another quipped: ‘Agility course for dogs recovering from brain surgery.’

Toco told MailOnline in May 2022: ‘Ever since I was a small child, I wanted to be an animal. I think it is a desire to transform. I’ve thought about it since I can remember.’

The dog-lover said he has hidden his identity and his human face from the world because he doesn’t want to be judged by people he knows.

‘I don’t want my hobbies to be known,’ he said, ‘especially by the people I work with.’

Toco added: ‘They think it’s weird that I want to be a dog. For the same reason why I can’t show my real face.’

This comes after it was revealed last year that schools are allowing children to identify as cats, horses and dinosaurs – and teachers are ‘failing to question them.’

There was widespread outrage in July 2023 when a 13-year-old girl was branded ‘despicable’ by her teacher for rejecting her classmate’s claim that she identified as a cat.

Now further stories are emerging of pupils who identify as animals with very human characteristics – often known as ‘furries.’