Dog's Collar Mysteriously Changes Appearance

July 30, 2024 9:34 AM

My dog has a bright red plain collar. Sometimes, though, the collar has a red streaky pattern on it. It is kind of a wavy, swirly, camo pattern and doesn't look to be random. What is happening?

My dog's collar is bright red. All one color the whole way around. But occasionally, maybe 2-3 times in the 7 months I've had her, a pattern has appeared of lighter and darker reds. I thought it was because the collar was wet (not a solution but something to go on), but yesterday it was dry and the pattern showed up.

Normal vs patterned red

The collar is made by Coastal. I have searched their product offerings with no luck...

It may seem like a lighting thing, but I swear, when it's red, it's red, and when it's patterned, it's patterned. And I keep thinking it's a wet thing, but yesterday the collar was totally dry and the pattern showed up.

Please help me figure out this fracture in space and time!!!

posted by violetish to Pets & Animals (18 answers total)

Total guess, but to me it kind of looks like it’s been scraped against something, like your dog was romping through a thicket and some of the fabric got abraded?
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:38 AM on July 30 [1 favorite]

Maybe it’s heat sensitive?
posted by tristeza at 9:39 AM on July 30 [2 favorites]

Aren't those just scratch marks? I think her neck gets itchy from the collar sometimes and she's scratching at it with her back nails. Can you make a similar mark with your fingernail?
posted by fritley at 9:42 AM on July 30 [6 favorites]

What does it feel like? Is there a texture difference between the different colors?
posted by mskyle at 9:53 AM on July 30

That is so weird. It does not appear to have any reflective properties? I would probably call them because I would want to solve the mystery!
posted by Glinn at 10:37 AM on July 30 [1 favorite]

It looks like a pattern built in though...Does it change at same time of day? Could the lighter color be light reflective in case doggy gets out at night. I would have to keep a close eye on it to see when it changes. Is the change gradual or instantaneous? ..Whatever that's one heck of a cute dog!
posted by Czjewel at 10:38 AM on July 30 [3 favorites]

is the top side solid and the bottom side patterned, or vice versa? maybe it's getting turned "inside out" or something.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 10:51 AM on July 30 [3 favorites]

No idea as to the why, but I just want to point out that there IS some very subtle color variation even on your "all red" photos. It's very, very close, but it IS there.

Try a couple things. Take a bright flashlight, hold it up to it, and then look in a dark room to check for any glow. Also, shine that flashlight at it while in a dark room to see if it's a reflective pattern.

Beyond that... I don't know. It's way too clear and obvious a "wave" pattern to be something accident like scratches or something on it.
posted by stormyteal at 10:55 AM on July 30 [3 favorites]

There's also mention of a flea and tick collar that looks similar. I suppose it could be residue of that? Though again, that seems like a really odd way for it to have been applied to the collar...
posted by stormyteal at 11:00 AM on July 30

any difference in lighting? Sunshine, LED, Fluorescent?
posted by theora55 at 12:04 PM on July 30 [1 favorite]

I’m almost positive it’s UV sensitive and the solid red is yes/no UV and the pattern is the other.
posted by seemoorglass at 1:35 PM on July 30

Response by poster: Thanks all! I have some experimenting to do re: light and heat.

The texture doesn't change with the pattern. That rules out scratch marks (which would stay over time, and the condition is pristine).

stormyteal you're right that sometimes you can just barely make out the pattern, which makes me think it's heat/light related, but I could swear there are times when it is pure red.

There isn't a pattern I've found for when the pattern shows...I don't see the pattern appear often and I think I'd notice (she is super cute, as Czjewel accurately noted, so I do tend to stare at her a lot).

seemoorglass I'm looking at pics of UV sensitive collars but don't see anything that looks like this!

I am going to write to the manufacturer. So odd that I can't find anything on their website, and that it's a well known brand!!!

Thanks for all your help!
posted by violetish at 3:04 PM on July 30

At risk of making a daft suggestion (though I see misanthropicsarah had made the same suggestion which makes me feel a bit better…)

It’s definitely not two sided and occasionally getting turned inside out? Coastal do sell a range of collars and leashes with different pattens on each side - not that one, but maybe it was from a different season?

Assuming it’s not that, please do report back when you’ve heard from the manufacturers - I’m so curious to find out what the answer is!
posted by penguin pie at 3:44 PM on July 30

The marks are definitely visible to me in all the photos you posted, for what it's worth. Perhaps when the collar is dirty the dirt accumulates and covers the lighter-colored streaks, but doesn't show so much on the darker red, so that when freshly cleaned it looks like one tone?
posted by verbyournouns at 9:07 PM on July 30 [2 favorites]

Looks to me like it is supposed to be patterned, but that some of the dye used has different properties in different types of light, causing the color contrast to look less contrasty in certain light. You know how you can put on black pants and a black top and they look fine together at home, but look very different once you get to work under the office lighting? Something like that, only in reverse. Try out some controlled conditions with sunlight, shade, fluorescent light, incandescent light, etc. See if you can find a pattern.
posted by bluesky78987 at 7:10 AM on July 31 [2 favorites]

It could vary with the temperature of the light. Do you see it outdoors and with warm-colored lighting, but maybe not indoors with, say LED bulbs that are more blue in color?
posted by jimfl at 7:49 AM on July 31 [1 favorite]

In the photos where the patterning is less apparent, the red is also a deeper shade overall. I'm inclined to put the variable visibility of the pattern down to a dye in the collar that has quite a peaky reflection spectrum interacting with different illumination spectra in different ways.
posted by flabdablet at 7:57 AM on July 31

I suggest this is an artifact of a manufacturing salvage process. The manufacturer produced a batch of collars, some percentage of which irregularly took on the dye. When the error was noticed, the defect items were dyed a second time, using a different material that usually has the same visual qualities. The final products passed inspection and were sold. Now the different dyes are rendered distinguishable under specific sets of variables, like temperature, humidity, even the strength and source of reflective light. Anyone who's ironed clothes and seen the color shift with heat is familiar enough with this effect. I noticed it in one of my outdoorsy garments that looks jet black in sunlight but partially "red-black" under fluorescent light's different spectral spread.

Cool thing to notice!
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 8:11 AM on July 31 [1 favorite]