A bloke living as a dog after he forked out £12.5k for a lifelike border collie costume says some of his fans want to follow his lead.

The man from Japan, who goes by the name Toco, first made headlines when he started posting videos to YouTube about his new canine life.

The social media star's channel, 'I want to be an animal', has since amassed more than 54,000 subscribers and each of his videos garner tens of thousands of views.

READ MORE: Bloke who spent £12.5k to become a dog could be part of 'larger pack' of human animals

Some of the more popular clips on his channel show him going for dog walks, "eating" dog food and learning tricks.

Now Toco has appeared in his very first in-costume interview where he confessed he's been inundated with positive comments from fans, and said some even want to follow in his footsteps.

"I receive all kinds of messages, among the positive messages, some tell me that they want to do what [I’ve done]," he said.

"This has allowed me to see that there are other people like me."

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  Bloke who spent £12.5k to be a dog makes canine friends on first walkies outside

It seems Toco has finally found some kindred spirits online, and they even have a name.

The Daily Star previously reported people who believe they have the soul of an animal and splash large amounts of cash living out their dream are called therians.

Associate professor of psychology at Pittsburgh's Duquesne University, Dr Elizabeth Fein, explained the difference between therians and furries – people who dress up in animal costumes and create "fursonas", sometimes for sexual pleasure.

"Therians might, for example, believe that they are a cat soul reincarnated into a human body," she said.

Speaking to the New York Post, she added: "Some furries are therians, and some therians are furries, but they are two distinct groups."

While Toco may have found a group of like-minded furry friends, not everybody is on board with his unusual lifestyle.

After he posted one video, in which he met up with other people pretending to be animals at a dog park, hateful comments flooded in.

One Twitter user said: "A Japanese man spent over $20K for this border collie costume. You cannot convince me this isn't some weird sex thing.

"Men will literally spend $20,000 (£16,000) to transform into a border collie instead of going to therapy."

Responding to the comments, Toco said: "I'm just sad that people can think that. I love animals and enjoy play-acting like a collie.

"This is my hobby, so I will carry on. It makes me happy and other people happy, too."

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