Guest Entry: Champ on Puppy Play

Up today, I have another guest entry from Champ. Champ, as you may remember, wrote a guest entry for this blog a few weeks ago on his experiences growing up ABDL. He has a Tumblr blog where he posts fresh, original content (essays and photos) quite often. His guest entries will become a regular feature of Abysitter.com, as well. 

Today's entry is on puppy play. I've dabbled in pup play before, and loved it. In a perfect world I'd have my own ABDL house complete with a nursery and - wait for it - a puppy cage. There's nothing like feeding an adorable li'l AB a bottle... or rubbing an AB pup on his tummy. Both are an amazing feeling, although I suspect most of my readers will be familiar with the first and not-so-much with the second. So read on... and, if you have any experience with pup play, or want to contribute some photos of your own, get at me.

You can read more from Champ by visiting http://Champ.abysitter.com [coming soon] or by visiting his own Tumblr blog at http://lilboychamp.tumblr.com/. Thanks, Champ!

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Preliminary notes on the appeal of the puppy play phenomena from a genuine newcomer...

My first inkling of the world of pup-play came to me on a sunny day in San Francisco's Soma.  It was July 26th, 2009 and I was at the Dore Alley Street Fair with my room mate and friend B, a self described bondage enthusiast and a founding member of the SFLDG.  We were enjoying the sights and muscling our way through the press of skin and motorcycle jackets when we spotted a mutual friend, D with a posse of leather and spandex-clad friends.  Now, I had discussed many experiences and scenarios with our friend D but I had never heard tell of the 'pup thing'.  Yet there was his friend - on two legs with a puppy hood a collar and lead looking happy as could be.

I'd be lying if I said this was the moment I knew pup play was for me. That, like a lightning strike I felt an affinity that resonated to my core.  No, I hardly batted an eyelash at the scene before me.  I had seen to many things and, writing it off as a slight variation on the standard slave/master relationship we hear so much of, I simply smiled inwardly at his happiness and pleasure.  But I never thought I would be in his position.

Two years later I went to visit a new acquaintance in my hometown and over the course of our conversation his interest in pup play came up. He showed me his collar, his bowl, his hood and mitts.  Yeah yeah, I had seen this all before but this time something was different.  I found myself expressing enthusiasm not just for the love of diversity, or the emotional piggybacking that tends to occur when someone around you is excited.  This time I was secretly excited as well.  For some reason I wanted to see him use these things, and I hoped it would be soon.

What strikes me about the relationship between a master and a sub - pup, or otherwise - is that it goes deeper than a mere 'whose line is it' roleplay.  The depth of feeling and meaning that is transmitted between two people in these role-playing scenarios can be transcendent - spiritually transcendent under the proper circumstances.  It's not just about one forcing another to do what they say.  It's not simple humiliation.  There is a pact of trust and understanding there, there is the negotiation and fulfillment of emotional needs, and so many more layers which are particular to any individual involved.  I have been told that getting into a BDSM 'headspace' can be more mind altering than any drug.  That said, I never felt comfortable with being dominated outside of brief bedroom encounters.  I always valued my independence and had no desire to give that up.  Tests of endurance and ceding control just aren't my bag, baby.  But it was in the special relationship between pup and master that I found something else to love.

It happened after he crawled into the living room in full pup gear. My first thoughts were 'Wow, this is really cool.'  I was thrilled and right away I knew just where we both stood - who hasn't played with a dog in their lifetime?  I found myself compulsively scritching him on he head and praised him for being a good puppy.  But it happened after all this.  That moment of realization happened after he took off the mitts, when he was sitting on the couch chatting in human form again.  I was stroking the real dog in my lap, someone said the word affection and it hit me that this was what made the experience so appealing.  The ancestral bond between man and dog, that unbounded love one feels for their pet and companion.  I knew that feeling.  And through this vehicle I could experience it both ways.

In the next 24 hours I devoured the book he lent me on the subject (Woof by Michael Daniels) and found that this play offered a staggering array of angles and dimensions in which to engage this headspace.  From feeding to grooming, gear to training, the detail and care which goes into this kind of play is beyond what I could have imagined.  And for the first time I found a scenario where I could imagine myself the top - gone were the reservations and insecurities that I face in the standard ‘man-to-man' interaction.  The conditions and caveats to affection, all those walls I build around myself in everyday life would be reduced to rubble.  Step right over, rover.

I will never be a lifestyler.  I still can't see myself with a permanent partner whom I call master, and who - everyday when I come home from work - snaps a collar on me and transforms me into something else.  Nor can I see myself as a dedicated master who spends his time devising new ways to  engage my pet.  I don't have those needs, I don't have those resources.  I only had a chance to try out the role of pup for 15, 20 minutes tops.  But in short order I've picked up something to add to my bag of kinks.  And I have a feeling I'm going to have a lot of fun with this one.