• The_Grinch [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    26 days ago

    I am now convinced it’s a shock collar. The following picture is only to show the piece of tape and what I claim it’s covering.

    I’ve played around with stills from this clip in my own image editor to my satisfaction. There is without any doubt a piece of electrical tape on the bottom of the black box, obscuring the two holes where the prongs were either unscrewed or cut off. You can easily see the impression of them for yourself if you crank up the brightness and contrast.

    I am not making any claims about whether he used it in the clip he’s accused of using it in. The dewclaw getting caught explanation sounds reasonable to me. It’s definitely a shock collar though.

    • purpleworm [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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      26 days ago

      I am probably just personally bad at interpreting blurry images, because I don’t see what you mean. I see the little button-looking thing at the top, but that doesn’t seem to be what you mean, and it’s not obvious to me at all what is under the tape. It looks like the tape is just a covering over a flat surface and we can’t really say what is under it besides obviously there not being a protrusion.

      I also kind of need to ask what the point is of a shock collar that doesn’t shock. Like, vibrating collars also have two little contact points, usually, or is that what the button at the top is here?

      • The_Grinch [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        26 days ago

        The round thing at the top is a barrel jack you use to charge the device.
        The prongs of the shock collar have been unscrewed prior to the picture being taken, then the holes covered with electrical tape.

          • The_Grinch [he/him]@hexbear.net
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            26 days ago

            There’s a strip of electrical tape across the bottom of the black box, and if you get the contrast ratio right you can even make out the little depression in the tape where the prong holes are. You can make out the tape as it’s moving in the unedited clip as well since it has a matte finish and the plastic around it is shiny. There seem to be a couple dog hairs stuck in the sides of the strip of tape. While it’s possible that the tape was there the whole time, it doesn’t look like a place where the thing would crack, and it isn’t applied in such a way that it would hold anything together. I can’t see any other purpose for it than to cover the prong holes in hopes the camera wouldn’t pick it up, which it very nearly didn’t.

              • purpleworm [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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                25 days ago

                Is there no tape? In the picture it looks like tape. Hopefully it’s clear that I’m being completely sincere in this, since you can see I spent an unhealthy amount of time in this thread arguing against the “Kaya was shocked” interpretation of events.

            • purpleworm [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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              26 days ago

              I am pretty certain dog hairs would be caught in the tape over time normally, and it seems possible that there was just a crack or something, e.g. the collar got caught on something that scraped it, so the tape is there to prevent the scrape from scraping Kaya or something (since abrasions to rigid surfaces can themselves be hazards in that way). You also didn’t mention about if they could be the little nodes for a vibration collar, since he says that’s what it is and I don’t see where else it would have the nodes (though I assume on a shock collar that also vibrates, the same prongs do both).

              I’ve never used a collar with electronic parts, if it wasn’t clear, just mechanical kinds.

              • The_Grinch [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                26 days ago

                It’s unlikely it got caught on something since the scratch would be on the inside edge, against her neck. I’ll admit I haven’t heard of a vibration collar having nodes on it. I don’t know what they would be for, besides replicating the feeling of a shock collar if you have a dog who has been trained to only listen when they think they’re wearing one.

                Looking at the options on Amazon I don’t see any vibration only collars with prongs, and the vibration only collars seem to be generally much slimmer than the shock collars, which stick out more, similar to Kaya’s. I also see a lot of very bad remote design decisions, where the shock button could be easily pressed by mistake, and the intensity dial could easily be adjusted unintentionally. That could be one explanation for the “yelp” clip, but the dewclaw explanation is reasonable as well. I certainly don’t think he’s willfully tazing his dog all the time. I do believe it’s a shock collar though.

                Why would he not remove that tape, and hold the thing up to the camera, so as to remove any doubt? He even seems a bit sheepish in the clip where he shows it off. Showing us a closeup of the model number would be ideal.

                • purpleworm [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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                  26 days ago

                  When I was casually looking it up for comparison I pretty quickly saw a vibration collar that uses nodes: https://www.petpawsabilities.com/cdn/shop/products/DC680Vnew.jpg?v=1605896488&width=823

                  That’s obviously not the model on Kaya, but neither is your comparison picture (not that you were saying it was, of course). By coincidence, this collar is also pretty bulky, though I’d say not as bulky as the reference. This is just the first one that I saw, the 17th entry for “vibration collar” on my google image search (though I think such things are tailored to the user, so you might get it in a different spot). The 20th entry also appears to have nodes. These are specifically only vibration, there are others with longer prongs that do both vibration and shocks.

                  Mechanically, I’m not sure why they’d have them being nodes. My guess is energy efficiency, since they need to move less mass, and more acute stimuli are usually going to work better anyway, plus it’s in a fixed position, so it’s not like a phone or something that gets jostled around and could never have just a little node or two. I’m just speculating from an uneducated standpoint, though.

                  I agree that he should have done more wrt to showing the exact specifications of the collar, even if I think body language analysis is a bit pointless.

                  • The_Grinch [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                    26 days ago

                    The nodes in both examples are sticking out way more than what would potentially be under the tape. Lets say it’s possible there exists a vibrating version of the electric collar, which is packaged in the same case, and because of some quirk of the injection molding there is a small depression or raised part where the prongs would be if it was the shock version. I still don’t get the tape.

                    I’m not saying that it is the same model, but now I’m curious where you see that it definitely isn’t. They look identical to me.

                    I’m not convinced that he shocked her, or shocked her on purpose in that clip and I never said he did.