A Japanese man who transforms into a dog using an ultra-realistic costume has said he hides his canine alter ego from his friends because he is worried they think it is weird.

Toco spent two million Yen ($15,000) on a custom-made rough collie costume last month, fulfilling his life-long ambition of becoming an animal.

Yet he only wears the suit on ‘special occasions’ and hides his secret from friends and colleagues who ‘think it’s weird that I want to be a dog’.

Toco told MailOnline: ‘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.’

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A Japanese man who transforms into a dog using an ultra-realistic costume has said he hides his canine alter ego from his friends because he is worried they think it is weird

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He also put his paw in a woman’s hand. Although at least one other person knows about his alter ego, he has kept the dream a secret from his colleagues

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.’

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

Toco, who used to have a medium-sized white mongrel called Mirai that looked similar to a Kishu, posted videos of himself dressed in the collie costume on YouTube.

Footage of him playing with a ball and doing tricks went viral as more than four million people watched the footage and thousands subscribed to his channel.

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Japanese company Zeppet, which creates costumes for TV commercials and films, said the costume ‘reproduces the appearance of a real dog walking on four legs’

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Toco only wears the suit on ‘special occasions’ and hides his secret from friends and colleagues who ‘think it’s weird that I want to be a dog’

In one of the odd clips Toco stands on all fours in front of a camera as jaunty piano music plays in the background.

He lifts his right paw twice in an apparent greeting before raising his left paw.

The Lassie look-a-like then rolls on the floor, waving his legs and paws in the air.

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The company that made the suit, Zeppet, said they enhanced the ‘fluffiness’ of the coat to hide the shell of the dog and made the mouth open and close by itself

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A Zeppet employee said creating the lifelike animal was difficult due to the amount of detail needed in making a dog suit to fit the human body

In another video a woman throws a ball for Toco to chase, before he places it back in her hand with his mouth.

Toco also posted a video of himself doing dog tricks such as putting his paw in the woman’s hand and rolling on the floor.

He said he chose a collie as the dog he wanted to become because it looked more realistic.

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Debuting his costume on Youtube, Toco shares his unique journey living as a dog to over 1000 subscribers. Since starting his Youtube channel in April, his videos have more than four million views

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Although he hasn’t met anyone else that dresses up like a dog he hopes ‘people like me who want to become animals can make that dream come true’

Toco said: ‘I thought a big animal close to my size would be good considering that it would be a realistic model, so I decided to make it a dog.’

He added: ‘There are restrictions, but you can move in it. However, if you move too much, it will not look like a dog.’

Although he hasn’t met anyone else that dresses up like a dog he hopes ‘people like me who want to become animals can make that dream come true’.

Japanese company Zeppet, which creates costumes for TV commercials and films, spent 40 days making the outfit.

A spokesman said: ‘Modelled after a collie dog, it reproduces the appearance of a real dog walking on four legs.’