Poodles as pets

[chikara]

There is a scam running in Japan where by people are being sold sheep as poodles.

Japanese fooled in poodle scam

Same story but with a catch headline and pics;
Ewe've been conned ladies

I can understand that there are probably a large number of Japanese who have never seen a live sheep close up but most of them have seen a dog. A sheep has hooves which should be a dead giveaway that it is not a dog.

[zengargoyle]

the first site i saw this bit of news on has yet to turn up any Japanese media site with the same information... my spidey sense is tingling.

[Oracle]

It's great watching media blindly picking up these fake stories. I've seen this on a few other news sites this morning as well.

This blog entry sums things up nicely

[coco]

Chikara-san
おもしろい記事を教えてくれて ありがとうございます。

Japanese police believe there could be 2,000 people affected by the scam,

2000人!

[chikara]

Just goes to show you can't believe what you read in newspapers

[Kdar]

Wow.. That is weird.. Lol..

[Infidel]

chikara wrote:
Just goes to show you can't believe what you read in newspapers

I never considered Sun a newspaper.

[two_heads_talking]

this is just another trend whereby media doesn't check it's facts and blindly jumps in and then blames the scammer when it is indeed proved to be false. It has been nearly 30 some years since the media was worth a lick.. currently I trust what my poodle says more than what the media comes up with.

[Yudan Taiteki]

http://www.snopes.com/critters/lurkers/poodlesheep.asp

[tanuki]

Bah, I'd rather have a sheep anyway. I figure sheep are tastier than those posh poodles.

[jrivera]

Didn't the intelligent reporters that posted this article wonder how anyone could possibly mistake a sheep for a poodle anyway???? This sounds more like something theonion.com would pose as a satire.

[Kisshu]

Lol... wow... then this scam has really been widespread since its been on the radio news as well as a short little thing on tv news XDDD

[Mike Cash]

Just shows how Western society/media are preconditioned with absurd ideas about how bizarre/exotic Japan is.

I heard this reported on "The Bob & Tom Show" and also on Rush Limbaugh, both via podcasts.

Fortunately, I have enough depth of experience with the country and the people to realize that while, as in any country, you can find one or two people ignorant enough to buy a sheep instead of a poodle, no way in hell are you going to find 2,000. As uninformed and undiscerning as the bulk of brand-conscious Japanese consumers tend to be, the likelihood that they would fall for something like this is zero.

Spotted it for a hoax instantly. Anyone who didn't should be ashamed of themselves.

[chikara]

Mike Cash wrote:... Spotted it for a hoax instantly. Anyone who didn't should be ashamed of themselves.

OK, I'm ashamed of myself

Australian ABC TV Media Watch - Journos Sold A Pup

[Mike Cash]

My wife tells me that just today, several days after the fact, Japanese television got wind of this.