A certain part of most streamers’ success is based on schadenfreude – the joy at someone else's misfortune. Whether they take on unbearable challenges for laughs, or – in the case of opinion or political streamers – engage in painful debates and discussions, a touch of masochism can certainly entertain viewers.
However, when others suddenly become the victims instead of the streamer themselves, that’s something else entirely – especially when it involves an innocent animal.
Hasan Piker Apparently Tortures Dog With Shock Collar
The streamer HasanAbi is no stranger to controversy. He regularly draws attention through scandals, for example when he threatened a critic in his chat with a firearm, only to realize he had mistaken the person, or when he called the wife of a fellow YouTuber he had fallen out with a “legitimate military target.”
But while the victims of his outbursts are usually people who can at least defend themselves in some way, what viewers witnessed in one of his recent streams caused particular outrage, because Piker (HasanAbi’s real name) apparently tormented his dog with a shock collar.
Hasan Piker shocking his dog with a shock collar for having the audacity to stand up while he's ranting about how much he hates the United States. pic.twitter.com/J1xt3pGyKK
— Possum Reviews (@ReviewsPossum) October 8, 2025
Are Such Devices Even Legal?
This often-criticized training method supposedly serves to train dogs out of certain behaviors. Aggressive or intrusive behavior, for example, is supposedly conditioned away through the use of shocks as punishment. The fact that one should not harm any living being to teach it something is completely ignored here – raising major doubts about how effective such training methods really are. That’s why such “remote stimulation devices” are even banned in other countries like Germany, Austria, and Switzerland – though not in the U.S., the streamer’s home country.
What makes Piker’s case even worse: his dog Kaya wasn’t even misbehaving. The animal was simply in the background of his stream while he chatted with his viewers. But when Piker noticed that the dog had stood up, he reached for something on his desk and said, “Kaya, please stop!”
The next moment, Kaya flinched, let out a painful yelp, and retreated to the mat Piker had designated for her.
Criticism From All Sides
When his own stream pointed out how problematic this was and explained that he was putting the animal under unnecessary stress, Piker at first couldn’t find the right words – then simply claimed that the dog was completely spoiled because of his mother.
In his chat – and later also on Reddit and other platforms – the outrage grew, and users demanded that Piker immediately give up the dog and hand her over to caring owners.
This is not the first time a streamer has made negative headlines for mistreating their dog. Recently, a Canadian streamer was detained by police at the U.S. border after threatening to kill his pet during a livestream.
Even before Piker’s incident, the use of shock collars had already been criticized in the U.S. Several initiatives are calling for a ban on these devices, and in San Francisco, it could soon happen – their sale and possession might become punishable offenses.
Piker himself denies that Kaya was wearing a shock collar. According to the streamer, it was merely a vibrating collar with an AirTag attached. He explained Kaya’s yelp in the stream by saying that she had slightly injured her paw while standing up. Later, he also showed this collar on stream.
Why Piker, after hearing the yelp – which he claims was due to a minor injury – didn’t check on his dog but instead seemed annoyed that she didn’t remain motionless like a decorative object in the background, is something only he can answer.
Perhaps the case of poor Kaya can help open more people’s eyes to how irresponsibly many owners use such devices – and make them realize that a ban is urgently needed.