Thousands of Japanese have spend $1,600 each on a poodle only to discover the animal they have received is, in fact, a sheep. Japanese moviestar Maiko Kawamaki went on a talk-show and wondered why her new pet would not bark or eat dog food. Not that strange if YOU ARE A SHEEP.

Japanese police believe there could be 2,000 people affected by the scam, which operated in Sapporo and capitalised on the fact that sheep are rare in Japan, so many do not know what they look like.

For those Japanese amongst the readership, the sheep is the one on the right.

The Green Man had a sheep for a pet for a while, her name was Ewe-nis. She was a good pet but the person we got her from didn't tell us she was a house-sheep. The Green Man had ideas that she would live in the paddock and eat grass, sadly Ewe-nis had other ideas about where sheep lived and what they eat (which was in the house eating "wild bird mix" seedmix). She eventually went to live on a hobby farm but at no point did The Green Man think she was a dog.

Source

Postscript: Oh well, it was a great story but it appears to be a hoax. Says something about The Green Man's perception of the Japanese I suppose.