Cool or Not Cool: Inking Your Pet

Dog Inker Mistah Metro from his Twitter Account

Whenever I write these "Cool or Not Cool" posts I TRY to stay fairly impartial. I said try -- it's not a perfect system. But FIPS'ters I just can't do that with this one. When some a-hole tattoo artist decides to ink his poor dog while he's under anesthesia at the vet, to me this is totally NOT COOL!

According to the Daily News, a Brooklyn-based tattoo artist known by his nickname Mistah Metro, posted a picture on Instagram of his dog passed out in the Vet's office with a new heart-shaped tattoo that read "Alex" and "Mel." With the post he wrote, "“One of the many reasons my dog is cooler than your[s]! She had her spleen removed today and the vet let me tattoo her while she was under.”

The pic was reposted by Gothemist and it immediately drew a slew of outrage. So much so that Mistah Metro removed the picture from his account just not getting why people had their balls in a knot over this:“Had to delete my account and make up another, some people just don’t appreciate anything! It’s an ANIMAL with a tattoo.”

The pic then reappeared Wednesday under a new stealthier handle, mistahmetro7 and was taken down again by the evening because comments like “Are you on crack? That’s f---ed up,” and “What kind of human would do that?”

The Daily News found out that Mistah Metro works at a Tattoo shop in Prospect Heights called the Red Legged Devil. Chris Torres the owner of the shop told the News: “Nothing happened at the shop. The dog didn’t get tattooed at this shop. It has nothing to do with this shop whatsoever." Yet after immediately trying to distance himself and the shop from Metro's deed, Torres came out on Twitter with “You guys are aware that the ASPCA tattoos dogs & cats once they’ve spayed or neutered them, right?” And then later a full-out eloquent and classy defense of Metro when asked if he would fire the artist: "People are still offered jobs after being pedophiles. I don’t know why everyone is treating this kid like he raped a 12-year-old.”

So I know we Slopers have a reputation of being a little too self-righteous or preachy when it comes to most everything so you might expect this kind of shock at an act like this. And maybe there are people out there who think this isn't inhumane or a big deal but as one critic posted on Metro's Instagram, the poor dog didn't ask for it. It wasn't something the dog needed to survive, like the invasive spleen surgery. Also, I will never get a tattoo because I am scared shitless of needles and things I'll regret when I'm 75 so maybe I'm just projecting my hang-ups on a little dog but I just think it's NOT COOL?  Am I wrong?

Also it's been a rough week for animals around this 'hood.