Dog owner's 'supportive' tattoo backfires spectacularly

Most dog owners are willing to do just about anything for their beloved pets but sometimes it pays to do a little bit of background research first.

That is the case for one loving owner who thought his rescue dog, Bear, had been tattooed by an abusive former owner.

Under that impression he wandered down to his local tattoo parlour and asked for the exact same marking.

“For those of you who know Bear know that he has a tattoo that was given to him by his previous owners,” the owner wrote in a Facebook post.

“It sickens me to know that people actually tattoo their pets.

“So tonight, I got his tattoo.”

What he didn’t realise was that that Bear’s tattoo was actually a symbol from the vet to indicate he had been neutered.

Social media users were quick to point out the flaw in his inking.

“‘That means he is neutered! My rescue female has one too!! Makes a cool story though,” one commenter replied.

“Are you neutered too?” another asked.

After the images went viral on Reddit, the dog owner spoke out, insisting he knew what the tattoo meant all along - however not everyone bought his explanation.

"We talked to our vet about the tattoo. I knew what it meant," he said.

"They can believe and say what they want," he said. "But the tattoo is not for them, it’s for me."