The people who like to pretend they're dogs
The fetish for acting like puppies - putting on collars, kneepads, tails, dog-like hoods and rubber, leather or lycra suits and submitting yourself to a 'handler' - has spread from bondage clubs and gay bars to the mainstream. It's therapeutic, say human pups
Human pups, or people who enjoy acting like playful puppies, are rapidly growing in number and confidence, spreading from the underground world of gay leather bars and bondage into a new and more mainstream “pup community”.
Unknown numbers of people around the world like to don dog-like hoods, collars, tails, sturdy kneepads and leather or rubber suits in private but this new push to broaden puppy play and bring it into the open is being led by Britain, which has possibly the world’s most active puppy scene. Organisers claim Britain has up to 10,000 pups and “handlers”, or people who take the protective role of their owners or trainers.
The author of the world’s only academic paper on puppy play, Liam Wignall, of the University of Sunderland, says there has been a “fascinating shift from the original emphasis on dominance and submission towards a new focus on fun and escapism”.
“After a hard day at work [devotees of puppy play] might come home and put on a puppy hood to get into the ‘headspace’ of just being silly and playing around or chasing a ball,” he says.
Once secretive and mainly practised by young gay men, this “lifestyle hobby” is believed to have started as a form of sexual domination in either Germany or the United States. Having evolved to place a stronger emphasis on non-sexual fun, it has gained adherents thanks largely to online networks and a greater social acceptance of “kinks” and fetishes. In the past few years it has also gained some prominence at public events such as Pride marches.