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I had to blog this, heard it on the radio this morning and thought there was no way this could be a true story...but here it is:

Wool pulled over Japanese eyes in Poodle scam- April 26, 2007, World Brisbane Times
go *here* to read the story. The Sun has a picture of one of the "poodles" *here* (be careful, some of the ads might not be for little eyes...) If you want a good, long belly-laugh..go see the photo.

I'll sum it up for you, they think maybe 2,000 people were scammed, uh "fleeced" by an import company selling poodles at an incredible discount. It all came out when movie star Maiko Kawamaki went on a talk show and mentioned how strange she thought it was that her new poodle didn't bark and wouldn't eat dog food, and then shared photos of her pet. I have to say it, she must have felt baaaad when she was told her poodle was in fact, a sheep. The sheep in poodle's clothing were sold for $1,600 each. One couple became suspicious after they took in their "poodle" to have a nail clipping and were told it had hooves.

The article mentions how rare sheep and poodles are in Japan, but I still had to wonder how a techno-rich society didn't think to look online for what a poodle looks like. I suspect that sheep farmers the world over are laughing wildly over this.

Maiko Kawamaki was reported as "..crestfallen when told it was a sheep" I have to say it again,
she must have felt really, really, baaadd- to have the wool pulled over her eyes like that.

Update: boy, do I feel Sheepish! It wasn't true! The link Amy left in the comments took me to a story that stated it was a hoax, and that the actress was on a talk show where she might have told a story about a friend who purchased a sheep-but that Japanese talk shows were known for lots of tall tales. I should have gone with my instincts, I thought it was too crazy at first to be true, I am glad it wasn't.. my hopes for human kind are not so in the toilet now.
Have to say it, I had the wool pulled over my eyes!
I did get 29 hits for "Maiko Kawamaki" and 2 hits for "sheep as poodles"...
*it was past 100 hits before the night was over, I've stopped keeping track now...this story seems to have gotten out everywhere!