A strange and obviously disturbed man has spent big bucks to turn himself into a very realistic version of a collie and, for the first time, he is taking a stroll in public during the dog days of summer.

Toco is a Japanese man who has spent $14,000 to transform himself into a canine with a custom-made collie costume. He claims that it has helped actualize his dream of “becoming an animal.”

The man can be seen in footage running around on a lawn, rolling on a floor just like a dog does, and playing fetch. The giveaway is his gait as he walks awkwardly as an animal.

Toco ventured out into public for the first time with a woman as his caregiver. Other dogs seemed at first curious and then scared of what they evidently intuited as an odd-looking, unstable man pretending to be one of them.

(Video Credit: I want to be an animal)

People who saw Toco seemed fascinated with his transformation as he trotted down a busy street. The viral video of his debut has more than 1.7 million views, according to the New York Post.

A harness was strapped across Toco’s abdomen for effect as he went for a walk. He said that he was “nervous” and “scared” of going out in public for the first time while giving an interview to a German news outlet.

“Do you remember your dreams from when you are little? You want to be a hero or a wizard,” he noted in the video, commenting that his lifelong dream to become a dog was seemingly “unrealistic.”

“I remember writing in my grade school graduation book that I wanted to be a dog and walk outside,” he recounted, according to the New York Post.

(Video Credit: I want to be an animal)

According to the media outlet, Toco said in an interview last year that he always “had a vague dream of becoming an animal” ever since childhood.

“When I fulfilled that dream, this is how it turned out,” he said, noting that he chose to become a collie because of the negligible size difference between the breed and humans. It’s also his favorite type of dog.

The company that made the costume is Zeppet. It took 40 days to create it and cost $14,161.

“Modeled after a collie dog, it reproduces the appearance of a real dog walking on four legs,” the company’s spokesperson told news.com.au in an interview.

(Video Credit: I want to be an animal)

Toco hides his alter-identity from most of his family and friends.

“I rarely tell my friends because I am afraid they will think I am weird,” he stated in an interview with the Mirror. “My friends and family seemed very surprised to learn I became an animal.”

Toco asserts that he most enjoys “doing things that only dogs do” because it makes him feel like a real pet.

For obvious reasons, he also doesn’t advertise his strange proclivities to his colleagues.

(Video Credit: Daily Mail)

“I don’t want my hobbies to be known, especially by the people I work with,” he asserted in an interview with the Daily Mail. “They think it’s weird that I want to be a dog. For the same reason why I can’t show my real face.”

“You inspire us to fulfil our dreams too,” one subscriber to Toco’s YouTube channel commented on a recent video, while another said, “I hope I become the animal I want to be as well. You’re an inspiration to us.”

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