The man who wanted to look like a border collie
Border collies are attractive dogs – but there’s a limit. If a person wants to be one, for example, I think we can safely say that a line has been crossed.
I first saw the story at Instapundit, with the following headline: “Man who spent $20K to transform himself into border collie steps out for first-ever walk in public,” and this link to a NY Post article about it.
What was my first thought? That the man had surgically altered himself to look like a collie.
That’s what it’s come to – that I, a logical person quite in touch with reality, assumed that the man had made permanent changes to that effect, and had gotten a surgeon to cooperate. The last few years have made this a plausible thought.
Fortunately, that’s not what the story was about. The money was spent for a very realistic doggie costume.
[UPDATE: A commenter helpfully points out that the costume isn’t a border collie, it’s a rough collie. True. But that NY Post URL still has “border” in it. Weird.]
Yeah, I happened upon this story about the Japanese man who wanted to be a dog today, but there have been other stories over the last couple of years about people who used far more radical methods to become the animal of their choice.
I’m thinking, in particular, about two videos I saw a couple of years ago, one about a man (if I remember correctly, a former member of the SAS) who lived in virtual isolation on a sparsely populated English island, and who wanted to become a leopard, so he had his entire body tattooed in a leopard pattern, the other video about a man who wanted to become a lizard, so he not only had his whole body colored green and tattooed, but he also had steel balls inserted under his skin to give his skin a pebble-like lizard look.
These and many other things I’ve seen–particularly over the last couple of years–have me wondering if the whole world–or some perhaps substantial portion of it–hasn’t gone completely mad.
Perhaps quite a number of individuals have always been entitled, stupid, delusional, sometimes frenzied, nasty, without boundaries, and crazy, and it’s just that the almost ubiquitous presence of cameras makes all this behavior and these attitudes much more visible.
If this isn’t the case, though, what to blame it on?
The collapse of the Judeo-Christian guidelines/expectations for traditional behavior that used to be taught and generally socially enforced?
The availability of world-wide travel, the break up of formerly close-knit neighborhoods, the geographic dispersal of our population, the resultant increased personal anonymity, and the disappearance of the importance of your personal reputation–your name (“my word as a Biden”), and shame as social enforcement mechanisms.
COVID was a trigger for activating a lot of formerly repressed crazy attitudes and behaviors.
Emptying out of the mental hospitals?
Over prescription of medications which have all sorts of harmful side-effects?
Too much booze and alcohol.
Bad behavior modeled and promoted by our entertainment media?
All of the above, and more?
That’s not a border collie — it’s a rough collie. Either the author of the article doesn’t know what he’s talking about or the Japanese don’t know from border collies and rough collies.
In terms of intellect and working ability border collies are far superior to rough collies. Rough collies have long been overbred and are good only for conformation showings. They’re dumb (but sweet). Border collies are real working dogs and widely regarded as the most intelligent dogs in the world.
I have considerable experience in this regard, as some readers here know. Presently I am the owner and “operator” of a border collie, “roughcoat” type (not to be confused with the “rough collie” breed. We do indeed work — we herd sheep. She’s my third BC.
IrishOtter:
Yes, I wondered about that. Didn’t look like any border collie I’d ever seen.
Maybe it got lost in translation.
By the way, the article I linked doesn’t say “border collie.” But its URL does say “border collie.” Weird. Did it originally have “border collie” in there, and then change it? I’ll change my post to indicate just collie.
I woulds say he needs to be spayed, but that will be a charge without evidence,
What was my first thought? That the man had surgically altered himself to look like a collie.
It’s not a surprising first thought. There was a news item about a year ago about a former Los Angeles banker named Richard Hernandez who spent $84,000 to be surgically transformed into a genderless sorta-reptile who now goes by the name of Tiamat Legion Medusa.
“To date they [sic] have spent more than $US 60,000 ($A 84,900) on body modifications including castration, ear removal, tongue splitting and 18 horn implants. And the fantastical makeover isn’t over with the pre-op transsexual planning a penis removal, teeth removal and more tattoos to fully morph from human to reptilian. . . . Following their initial transformation, Tiamet grew 38B breasts as a result of hormones and has had a prostate removal and castration as part of the change from male to female. The wannabe dragon also has 18 horn implants, both ears removed, a partial nose removal and reshaping inspired by Harry Potter character Voldemort, all but six teeth removed with those remaining sharpened to points, the whites of both eyes permanently stained green, [and] a tongue bifurcation to mimic a snake’s fork.”
Tiamat is quoted as saying, “I want people to know that modified people are just as intelligent, kind, loving, and good as anyone else. Just because I had my ears removed, does not mean my brain just rolled out and I’m just a blithering idiot.”
Photos and a video of TLM at the link:
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/exbanker-spends-84k-to-transform-into-a-genderless-reptile/news-story/97396cb4e5229b7896043b3f99bc2f41
Just be warned that what has been seen cannot be unseen. . . . Toco’s collie costume is “normal” by comparison.
P.S. Rough collies are so over bred, they can’t really herd sheep (or any other animals) any more. They had the herding instinct bred out of them for the sake of conformation. Blame this on the AKC, considered an evil organization bt border collie purist (such as myself).
The border collie was only recently accepted as an official breed by the AKC. We border collie purists fought tooth-and-nail to prevent this from happening. We purists are members of the USBCHA (U.S. Border Collie Association) and do not allow AKC border collies in our registries. Nor do we allow our BCs to participate in AKC events. We breed our our BC for their skills rather than their looks (i.e. conformation). As a result there are several BC “looks” or types.
For more info on this issue, see “Border Collie Wars” at https://www.pedigreedatabase.com/community.read?post=823412-border-collie-wars
Here endeth today’s lesson on border collies.
Shouldn’t he be on a leash?
The guy who wanted to look like a dog is just crazy. The real issue is why are doctors enabling this insanity? They’re the ones we should aim our disdain towards. Really a dirtball way to make a living.
ambisinistral:
Doctors do facilitate a lot of crazy things these days, but the dog thing in this post is just a costume.
Ahhh… OK. I was mainly reacting to the lizard and leopard guys in the comments.
A minor correction for miguel: Toco is a male, therefore if he needs to have his gonads removed, he will be “neutered” or “castrated.” “Spaying” refers to the removal of the uterus and ovaries of a female cat or dog.
In re: Snow on Pine’s comment…
Japan, to the best of my knowledge has never been widely influenced by Western (or Eastern ftm) Christian tradition. Western economic and political thought…yes, but not spiritual worldview. So the expressive individualism there, like Mr “I’m a Collie,” that is rampant in the Western world stands over the rubble of a different spiritual tradition.
The once-Christian West is apostate in many ways to be sure… I’m not sure that’s the same for Japan.
I’m happy for folks who are more Japan-savvy to correct me.
Don’t be too hard on yourself for assuming it was trans-speciesism. That is far to believable nowadays.
Sort of Dr Moreau in reverse. For are we not beasts?
John Guilfoyle–
RE: Christian influence in Japan
Christianity entered Japan with the arrival of Fr. Francis Xavier of the Society of Jesus in 1549, during Japan’s Warring States Period (1467-1578), and soon several important Daimyo i.e. powerful regional lords, become baptized, they protected missionaries and their activities and, in return, received profits from trading with the West, and, over time, Christian missionaries eventually managed to make an estimated 300,000 converts, many among the samurai class.
In 1585 some Daimyo sent a mission which included four young Japanese Christians to Rome, where they met with Pope Gregory XIII.
In 1587 powerful warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi issued an anti-Christian edict limiting propagation of Christianity and ordering foreign missionaries out of the country. In 1597 Hideyoshi executes 6 foreign missionaries and 26 converts in Nagasaki.
Later, in 1612, the Tokugawa Shogunate also issued it’s own anti-Christian edict forbidding propagation, and ordering the destruction of churches, and in 1638 the Shogunate prohibited Christianity and expelled all foreigners, as Japan entered a 250 year period of strict isolation from foreign influences.*
According to the 2023 CIA World Factbook 1.5% of Japan’s population are Christians, Shinto 70.5%, Buddhism 67.2% (you can be both of these Japanese religions at the same time), with 5.9% other.
* See https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Christianity_in_Japan
SoP… thanks… that conforms to what my often faulty memory dredged up.
There were Western Christian missions to Japan, but their influence has been small. So… the hyper-expressive self stands atop a different spiritual collapse than that of the once-Christian West.
I knew some US missionaries to Japan many years ago… Came home after about 15 or so years pretty exhausted.
…what to blame it on?
–Snow on Pine
I would throw in prosperity.
It’s been a rocky road, true, and we are always beset by problems and fears; nonetheless, humanity is as rich as it ever has been and individuals have the wherewithal to actualize their fantasies.
Plus we have technology to help out. Imagine what a dog costume as nice as the above would have cost 100 years ago. If it could have been as nice.
I see much of the strangeness in the modern world as aristocratic eccentricity gone mainstream.
huxley says, “I see much of the strangeness in the modern world as aristocratic eccentricity gone mainstream.”
Here’s aristocratic eccentricity you might enjoy (and yes, made possible by modern technology)– a Brit who rejoices in the name of Zack MacLeod Pinsent, who dresses in the style of a Regency gentleman every single day:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b01S7EBQztk
Huxley–The problem I see with the “aristocratic eccentricity” idea is that a whole lot of these people hardly act like high class aristocrats.
One particularly annoying group of people I’ve just discovered are the self-styled “journalists” and even “investigative journalists,” supposed “First Amendment” “Auditors” of today, who buy a steadicam, and take it upon themselves to wander around, intrude into and poke their noses into all sorts of public buildings–government offices, police precincts, prisons, hospitals, etc. supposedly to “audit” their adherence to the Constitution, but really to provoke reactions to their chutzpah and pushiness which they can video, put up on the Internet, get clicks from, make money off of, and gain some “fame.”
These are hardly “aristocrats” but rather–from how they speak–likely unemployed members of the dese, dems, and dose crowd.
I didn’t look long, but I thought “it” was a Sheltie.
Too much Lassie growing up?
I also thought surgery might be involved. All those stories about plastic surgery going wrong and making “cat women.” So I imagined the doctors making a large muzzle or snout for him.
But no. It’s just a costume. But it’s very realistic. It must take forever to get anywhere though, walking around on all fours.
Border collies (and Aussies) are fashionable at the moment.
Much as I loved ‘Lassie’ as a child I consider this to be just bizzare.
Although in my next life I intend to come back as a GSD.
Has he had all his shots? Where is his flea collar? LOL