Someone has come to see him. Even though he stinks and appears disease ridden. He is happy. So happy to be going somewhere. He must cut deep to get it all out.
Further inspection reveals something beneath the collar, cutting deeper.
A choke chain, cloaked in flesh, implanted to the bone cuts a red channel three inches deep around the dog's neck. The vet shakes his head in despair, then prepares a needle. The dog lies sleeping now, at rest from the suffering he's endured. There is no way to suture, the vet says, as the wound must heal from the inside out, which seems impossible in this case. He has gone to sleep happy, his tail still wagging.