Sexual or non-sexual?
With the recently aired documentary on Pup Play here in the UK, a lot of debate has arisen within the community about the sexuality inherent in the fetish. While I’ ve seen some strong arguments for both cases the truth is far less black and white.
Since I joined the community I’ ve gotten to know plenty of people from both sides of the debate, but what a lot of people seem to miss is that most pups are rather trapped in the middle. Borrowing a metaphor used a lot to describe sexuality, pup play as a fetish is much more a spectrum than just two sides, with most people somewhere along that spectrum and very few at the ends. Many pups being heavily focused on enjoying the non-sexual elements such as fussing, playing with puppy toys, playing with a handler or other pups, just escaping“ hooman” life and getting temporarily lost in the headspace, but still occasionally partaking in the sexual side of it whether as a regular thing or as a means to explore.
Sex?
Due to its light and escapist nature, pup play is a good place for people to start experimenting with fetishes and kink which is one of the many attractions for it. While those pups chase balls and play fetch with their handlers, many pups are tied down and played with by their owners or masters, while they’ re not too busy playing fetch.
The nature of the sexuality spectrum in pup play can easily be seen by the kind of pup events organized around the country, some more sexual, some less sexual but none exclusively one or the other. Even at a nonsexual event such as Pup Social, based in Birmingham, I have seen attendees or even organizers perform bondage, paddling or other BDSM activities even during the day part of the event while not being a sexual event in itself, as its moto goes“ Social not Sexual”. On the other hand a more sexual event such as Collared, based both in Manchester and in London, while much more sex oriented can be an environment to meet people and socialize and simply spend time with friends.