Human collie Toco greets fans, rolls over for belly rubs in the street
His official breed is a wackadoodle.
Looks like the human dog’s inaugural walk last month might’ve tuckered him out. Toco, the collie cosplayer who famously spent a fur-tune “becoming” a canine, was spotted cruising the streets of Tokyo in a wagon.
The outing came less a week after the dog man told The Post that the media was “misinformed” about his alleged desire to become a dog, clarifying: “My desire to be an animal is like a desire to transform … a desire to be something that I am not.”
In recent photos, the man is💙 seen decked out in hi♎s hyperrealistic bespoke dog suit as a friend tows the ruff rider around in a cart.
Toco was subsequently greeted à la a winning NFL team’s MVP during a victory parade.
Other snaps show the Las🐽s-querader taking selfies with adoring fans and even rolling over for belly rubs.
The collie trolley tour marked one of t꧒he handful of public appearances so far made by the aspiring pooch, who first hit headlines several years ago after — a company that makes costumes for TV commercials and films — a cool 2 million yen ($14,161) to design a superrealistic collie costume.
He re🔴portedly wanted to realize his lifelong dream of transforming into something else.
“My favorite is quadrupedal animals — especially cute ones,” said the animal lover while describing his inspiration for the unorthodox life choice. “Among them, I thought that a big animal close to me would be good, considering that it would be a realistic model, so I decided to make it a dog.”
Since then, Toco has embraced his new identity by doing everything from playing fetch to prancing about in a fake kennel to even pretending to eat dog food, activities that he films and uploads for .
Despite his viral internet fame, the wannabe dog is shy about his appearance, notably keeping his puppy proclivities from family and friends a𓃲 secret until recently.
Thankfully, the fam didn’t put Toco in the dog house over his lifestyle choice.
“The family was surprised, but received it favorably,” the human collie gushed “I am verℱy happy that they accepted it.”
Folks online weren’t nearly as accepting, with one critic sniping, “Men will literally spend $20,000 to transform into a border collie instead of going to therapy.”
“A Japanese man spent over $20K for this border collie costume,” jib🐻ed another. “You cannot convince me thi🔯s isn’t some weird sex thing.”
However, Toco won’t roll over for haters. “I’m just sad that people can think that,” lamented the fur fan, who says he dons the get-up once a week, mostly at home. “I love animals and enjoy playacting like a collie.”
He a🅺dded, “This is my hobby, so I will carry on. It makes me𝔉 happy and other people happy, too.”
Cosplaying as a collie isn’t as unusual as one might think.
Psychologists believe Toco might be part of a larger pack of therians, people who ident🤡ify with a nonhuman animal species.
This is not to be confused with a furry, who enjoys occasional cosplay in an animal costume or “fursuit,” say exper🔜ts🅠.
It’s important “to distinguish between fuꦅrries, who are fans of anthropomorphic animals … and therians, who on some level identify&nb꧑sp;as a creature other than human,” Dr. Elizabeth Fein, associate professor of psychology at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, told The Post.
Therians “might, for example, believe that they are a cat soul rei💃ncarnated into a human body,” Fein added. “Some furries are therians, and some therians a🐎re furries, but they are two distinct groups.”
