A Japanese man spent $ 14K to get a hyper-real costume of a collie breed dog but he has been told it’s not good enough by an American Kennel Club judge, who has given the canine “morphosis” a thumbs down.
The human-dog, who goes by the name Toco, has a Youtube channel named ‘I want to be an animal’ where he will be posting videos of himself going on and about in Tokyo in his costume. The custom-made suit of the collie dog took 40 days to be made and cost him two million yen- as per its creator Zeppet’s website.
However, in a recent turn of events, American collie breeders and dog-show judges went ruff on the human collie, with the stand that he doesn’t stand a chance against the standard-bearers of the breed.
Many from the American Kennel Club had varied views of this “transformation”. The umbrella organisation monitors and addresses canine legislation and offers a wide variety of educational material on canines. The AKC judges, who judge a variety of dog shows and events, are required to have a minimum experience of 12 years with owning, breeding and raising dogs which leads to their brutal observations of Toco.
Jeffrey Presley, AKC judge, had quite a few views on the dog’s appearance. He criticized the headpiece for being overly large and giving the impression of a “heavy head.” He also commented on his disassociation from the breed “A collie should look regal, and I don’t know that he does.”
“[He] should have an expression of real intelligence,” he said of Toco, who became an international sensation after sharing a video of himself walking on all fours in his collie suit.
Several dog experts were raunchy over the furry being’s “choppy” and “cumbersome” gait which was far from the effortless stride expected from the herding group’s top dog.
“He is very stiff and needs a lot of room to roam and work on that muscle tone,” said Katie Skilton-Rendina, district director for Ohio and Michigan, Collie Club of America.
AKC judge and collie breeder Erin Blaisure was of the view that Toco needs to make an appointment with the groomer and needs to lay off the chow.
However, it’s not like all is not well for Toco as some were seen charmed by the dog’s friendly demeanour which is duly complimented for his breed.
“They’re not aloof to strangers and very much a family dog, welcoming towards other people and dogs and that is how Toco was playing in the video of him on the streets,” said Robette Johns, AKC judge.
Over the past year, Toco has been posting footage of his dog days on YouTube for the past year, where his almost 50,000 subscribers can watch him eat fake dog goodies from a dish and shimmy inside his wire cage.
His YouTube bio reads this channel will bring you unusual videos and lo and behold people are completely intrigued by the new dog and life.
