Black dog collar, green leash

First, my mind went to a story about a dog that died, or whose owner was tired of it, and thus no longer needed these accouterments.  Then I thought of another story: some lucky dog ("You lucky dog, you") gets a new collar and leash, and happily passes the used items on. 

Here's where I stop, because I am already noticing some patterns that could emerge with this writing thing I'm doing: I could comment on the fact that my mind veered first to negative stories, I could wonder at the reasons for that - some bias that sad stories are better? a latent hostility toward dogs? an underlying pessimism in my nature? -, I could describe the items in more detail (synthetic material that was once shiny and now is duller with use, a slight doggy smell, a green that I'd call kelly green), or I could go with one of the stories and find a pithy ending. 

I just had another idea.  I could hint at other sinister uses the collar might have been put to.  But then I'd have to stop emailing this to my parents and my kids.  Still, there's an edginess I rarely explore in my writing.  Hmm. 

When is a dog collar just a dog collar?