I've been teaching or helping to teach human-puppy play classes for 5 or 6 years now at various clubs and events around the South. Over that time I've developed a taxonomy of human puppies, based on one originally began by Sir Loki, but which I've continued to adjust and expand. I wrote about this many years ago (here http://pupemrys.blogspot.com/2012/05/puppy-typology.html ), but I think I haven't published an updated version in a while. So here, updated, are my four types of pups (which roughly also yield four types of pup scenes):
The Slave-Pup
A slave-pup is someone who doesn't really go into puppy headspace, but is
forced to act like and be treated as an animal while retaining their human
awareness of that degradation in status. Slave-pups are submissives who enjoy being
humiliated by being “forced” by a Dominant to behave like a “less than human”
animal. “Get down on all fours and crawl, bitch!” Along with humiliation, discipline and obedience training are a focus in play with slave-pups. This is where pup
plays started – as a punishment for misbehaving boys in leather bars – but then
it turned out that some of the boys liked it… And so the gay scene (in the US) has shifted away from the slave-pup, and today this form of pup play is more common among het Fem-Domme BDSM. (In Europe, there are still many more gay pups who are into the humiliation and obedience aspect of pup play.)
One way to spot a traditional slave-pup: if you ask them how they got their pup name, and they reply, "My Master/Mistress named me."
A “play pup”
is one who enjoys pupping-out as a form of play: like with bondage, gear
fetish, boot-worship, or flogging.
They will “do a pup scene.” It’s essentially a role-playing game. These pups tend not
to go into a deep pup-headspace, and will often talk, laugh and joke around
during a mosh. I think for the play pup it’s primarily an opportunity to
let-lose, be goofy and uninhibited, and… well, playful. As my pack-mate Hunter once said:
“It eliminates the pressure to
talk. I hate talking. I hate vocalizing anything. Hell, I even dislike barking.
In pup mode, I can meet new people and go [past] awkward conversations of,
"Oh, I've been in the lifestyle this long, and my hanky is on this side,
and I'm un-collared at the moment, not due to lack of trying." I just
sniff them, and if the don't freak out, I get scritches.”
Play pups tend to be the very opposite of slave-pups in terms of discipline. Play pups may be in D/s relationships, but they are likely to be ultra-low protocol, and tend to be relatively disinterested in Leather traditions/history. They may also be uninterested in, or even incapable of, deep puppy headspace.
Many play-pups, I also refer to as "Rave Pups," because they tend to mostly turn-out at rave/disco clubs more than traditional leather bars: young, twink boys who like to go out in sexy pup gear to dance, flirt, and act silly (and sometimes "party and play"). There are a growing number of pup-themed nights at various gay clubs around the country, e.g. Puppy Pound in San Francisco, Arf! in Seattle, and The Kennel in LA.
An “innate pup”
is one for whom being a pup is a constant state… like being
a slave, or being a Christian, or being gay, or being a African-American.
It’s a part of who we are and how we interact w/ the world. When I do pup
play (get down on all fours and romp), it’s a matter of letting the hound that’s always
under my skin come forward and take over for a while. For me, pup play is a very shamanic kind of
thing. It’s a spiritual transformation
that is aided by the physical transformation (i.e. the body-suit and hood). Getting suited-up and pulling the hood on is
also a gradual, ritualistic shift in head-space. Mythologists like Joseph Campbell have
addressed the importance of our animal within, and the way civilization and
Judeo-Christian culture has divorced us from it.
Innate-pups are primarily interested in the puppy headspace: a form of self-hypnosis in which one can, for a brief time, really come to think one's self to be a dog, and lose language skills almost entirely. They may avoid moshes because it can be very hard for them to get deep into a puppy headspace in such a public setting.
How might you spot an innate-pup? The tend to be very specific about their breeds and strongly identify with these dogs as a kind of totem/spirit animal. (e.g. I have an Irish wolfhound tattoo, wolfhound knot-patterns on my wedding ring, and a dozen wolfhound-themed tee shirts in my closet.)
The Gear-Pup (or Rubber-Pup)
As a comic book geek and budding pervert, I
discovered (and fell in love w/) the work of Michael Manning, who I eventually got to meet
at Fantasm in 2003. But years before that, I
discovered his comics: which are super-super-HOT! And one of the hottest things he drew were
these amazing images of (often androgynous or gender-queer) rubber/PVC pups. Woof!
Gear puppies come more from the rubber fetishist tradition. Here, the aims are primarily erotic. The puppy gear itself (the hoods, the leashes and collars, the body-suits and harnesses) is a turn-on, and the purpose of pup play is to get one's dick hard and act as a stimulant for sex. Gear-pups often combine their pup play with bondage, edging, breath play, and poppers. The rubber-pup scene is much bigger in the UK and Northern Europe, but it is growing over here. However, as of 2018, I still tend not to run into a whole lot of fellow rubber-pups in the States.
Note: These
are not exclusive categories, but are like an overlapping vinn diagram. Many pups will fit into two or even three categories. My Hunter, e.g., is part slave-pup, part play-pup, and part innate pup... but he has no gear fetish side at all. However, Hunter calls me 400% pup because I fit very well into all four of these types, and can engage in all these types of pup play, depending on the context. (I think that might be one reason why I often get called on to teach puppy play classes: I understand all these different approaches to puppy play.)
Of course this taxonomy isn't anything definitive, and there are any number of other ways you could divide up the human-pup community. However, I've found it to be useful, especially for a Handler negotiating a scene with a new puppy. It can be quite disappointing if, e.g., a Handler is expecting a heavy degradation and obedience slave-pup scene and his puppy just wants to cut loose and be silly. This is not a bad framework for thinking about one's style of being a puppy and what one wants to get out of a puppy scene.
I've noticed that (especially) some slave-pups and innate-pups look down on play-pups and gear-pups as "not real," "fake," "superficial," "not serious," etc. I'm not supportive of this attitude. I always teach that everyone can find his own level to play at. Not every pup has to be an innate pup and sleep in a dog kennel every night. People can get out of pup play whatever it is that they get out of it... and leave the rest. I think this also cuts through the (frankly) bullshit debate over: Is puppy play sexual... or is it all about the headspace, or whatever. Yeah, for some it's entirely sexual. For others, it isn't sexual at all. Bottom line: There isn't one way to be a puppy.
