Puppy Play

Zwischen Community und einem persönlichen Erlebnis

by Dan Apus Monoceros (Sex, Kink, and Relationship Coach)

Puppies have become an integral part of the community. They have established their own meetups, events, and communication channels, yet they are also part of other communities—whether at Pride events, parties, fetish gatherings, or in the scene’s local neighborhoods. Puppy play can signify identity and a sense of belonging, but it can also be a deeply personal and private experience enjoyed by the puppy alone or with their partner(s). However, puppies are frequently portrayed negatively, stigmatized, and excluded in public—sometimes even within the broader community, and, in a slightly different form, even within the puppy community itself.

The following text first addresses puppy play in general and then looks at current developments. Pup Oreo, Puppy Germany 2022, joins as a guest author to contribute additional perspectives.

In a Nutshell: "What is Puppy Play?"

Puppy Play as a Personal Experience

At its core, puppy play is a wonderful form of play in which one or more participants slip into the role of a "puppy." In doing so, the person usually adopts playful, dog-like traits—such as tilting their head, playing fetch energetically, cuddling, receiving affection, responding to commands and training, growling, roughhousing, or playing hide-and-seek. The range of possibilities is vast!

It is often distinguished from "dog play," which tends to be more serious and involves elements like breeding, hierarchy, control, pain, and even humiliation.

Puppy play is a subset of "pet play," which in turn is part of BDSM roleplay.

How it is practiced is highly individual. Each puppy player and their partner(s) must decide for themselves which aspects—ranging from sexuality, BDSM, fetish, and intimacy to canine and social behaviors—they wish to incorporate. Some practice puppy play asexually, using the headspace primarily to switch off from everyday life and other problems. Others appreciate the community and the people, viewing it more as a social group. Then there are those with a more sexual focus—manifesting as classic sex (albeit in gear and mask), a form of "primal play" (involving animalistic or predator-prey behaviors), or even a "puppyhood" fetish (where arousal stems from the puppy mask and gear itself).

History and Influential Communities

Historically, puppy play evolved largely within gay fetish and BDSM communities, though it now generally embraces all sexual orientations and genders. Due to its unique nature, the scene has developed its own events and structures, while also maintaining ties to traditional BDSM frameworks.

Puppy play is also strongly influenced by—and shares common ground with—"pet players" in the classic BDSM scene and the furry community. To put it simply, members of these communities create (animal) characters as new identities; by stepping into these roles, they cultivate a specific mindset—such as a "fursona," "pet space," or "pup space"—in which they fully inhabit that character.

Various other fetish subcultures also frequently overlap with the puppy scene, including enthusiasts of rubber, gear, sneakers, and sportswear.

Is Puppy Play a Gateway to the BDSM Scene?

For many puppies, I believe it is. The puppy headspace plays a significant role in this. Escaping the human world—and temporarily setting aside human worries and problems—opens up a wealth of possibilities. It allows many people to reveal more of their true selves, becoming more open and self-confident. This newfound confidence makes it much easier to explore other fetishes and activities within the BDSM scene. Another advantage is that puppy play is highly compatible with other fetishes; for instance, there are plenty of "rubber puppies," "ABDL puppies," and "MX puppies." - Oreo

The Puppy Play Community

The puppy community has become well-connected across Telegram, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and other channels. There are regular meetups and private puppy gatherings in almost every city, as well as larger events like the "Puppy Circuit" (Berlin) or the "Puppy Pub Crawl" (Cologne). In the process, the scene has developed its own structures (packs) and rituals (Oreo):

A rumor that has persisted for years is that one must belong to a pack. This is nonsense. The COVID-19 period, in particular, caused many existing packs to change, break up, or partially reform; consequently, the number of "strays"—puppies without a pack—has grown significantly.

Baptism by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence—and sometimes additionally by Puppy Germany—is a ritual that some puppies choose to undergo in order to receive their name during a festive ceremony. This is not mandatory for every puppy, but simply a nice little extra for some.Is the Puppy Community at a Crossroads?

The puppy scene is growing, and more and more people identify with the ideas and concepts of human pupplay—both on a personal level and within the community. The days of being a small, tight-knit group are long gone. Even though many still know one another, existing structures and "packs" are breaking apart, new ones are forming, and other structures are emerging. As the community grows and the distance between members increases, the sense of community spirit seems to be fading. Instead of supporting one another, people are trying to set themselves apart. Conflicts arise, and shared values ​​are called into question or redefined by splinter groups.

A Polarizing Presence

With their blend of kink, roleplay, headspace, free-spiritedness, and a desire for attention, puppies sometimes rub people the wrong way.

Puppies in the Scene

The anonymity provided by the mask makes it difficult to recognize the person underneath while offering a certain level of protection. For a small number of community members, this has led to misconduct; consequently, puppies as a whole have faced bans—either from specific venues or specifically regarding masks—or have lost their regular meeting spots at certain locations.

However, specialized options have also emerged; for instance, puppies are regular guests—and explicitly welcome—at the gay-BDSM.club.

A similar trend has been observed in Cologne (Oreo):

Puppies haven't always been—and aren't always—welcome everywhere. Certain businesses have imposed puppy bans and prohibited the wearing of puppy masks. However, developments following the COVID-19 pandemic have often moved in a positive direction. Puppies are welcome at the Pluto Sauna in Essen, for example, and in Cologne, the "Kinkz" venue now offers a space open to all fetishes.

Social vs. Sexual Puppies

For most puppies, fetish and BDSM are—at least to some extent—acceptable aspects of the lifestyle. However, a hotly debated question is just how much sex is involved in pupplay. Sexual, personal, and social forms of pupplay are not mutually exclusive, yet a conflict exists: on one hand, organizers are often required to omit key details—such as "sex-positivity"—from event descriptions, as including them would prevent the events from being promoted on puppy-focused channels. On the other hand, participants often become upset if an event turns out to involve more sexual activity than they anticipated.

Unfortunately, a sort of divide is currently emerging; for instance, Berlin hosts an asexual meetup at "Brezel," while the "Puppy Markt" at "sinberlin" offers an event that is both sex-positive and socially oriented.

How much sex is involved in pupplay?

Ultimately, individuals can decide for themselves—and explore—how much sex they wish to incorporate into pupplay. It offers the flexibility to engage in the activity in a purely social way, a purely sexual way, or any combination of the two. There are events perfectly suited to the social aspect, such as "Gear’n’Dance" in Bottrop—a party open to all fetishes but without sexual acts. Conversely, there are events where the sexual side can be fully explored, such as the sauna events in Cologne and Essen.

At the Puppy Market in Berlin in July 2022, "puppies" had the opportunity to participate either as sexual puppies or as social puppies. The event was open to people of all genders and sexual orientations.

Puppies at CSDs

Every year, the question arises as to whether and how puppies should be allowed at CSD (Pride) events. They frequently come under fire from right-wing populist movements (such as *Kinderseelenschützer e.V.* or HeidePark in 2022) or from other activists (like persiax). Demands are usually made to ban puppy masks, fetish symbols, and other objects or actions perceived as sexualized.

Uninformed observers often mistakenly perceive puppy play, fetish objects, and symbols as inherently sexual items. However, within the context of a demonstration, outfits, gear, hoods, collars, leashes, and even assless chaps serve much more as symbols expressing resistance and personal identity. Whether the wearer sexualizes these objects should be irrelevant in this setting; it is a deeply personal matter that an observer cannot answer. As an outsider, one can only project one's own preconceptions onto the other person—thereby doing exactly what one shouldn't do at a CSD: judging others.

Based on the fundamentally flawed premise that CSD events are sexualized by these elements, the argument usually shifts toward child protection concerns or claims that political messages will not be taken seriously.

This debate has been brilliantly analyzed and clarified by organizations like CSD Deutschland e.V. and individuals such as Chris (sexabled.de)—articles well worth reading that shed excellent light on the background. The conclusion drawn in these articles is that children are more tolerant and less prejudiced regarding fetishism, sexuality, and puppy play than their parents, who are the ones with the actual problem regarding deviations from the norm. Furthermore, fetishism and sex have always been an essential part of the CSD movement. If you follow the discussions, you notice a distinct pattern regarding which comments get deleted and which don’t. An analysis of the various critics often reveals right-wing populist structures and ideologies. What is truly alarming, however, is not that this scene argues from its own perspective, but that these arguments are being adopted by members of the LGBTQ* community—and sometimes even by CSD organizers and the puppy community itself. In doing so, they not only betray their own origins and communities but also use the very same rhetoric employed in other countries to suppress CSD events and social diversity as a whole.

How do puppies conduct themselves at CSD events?

At any given CSD, the puppies are a colorful, open-minded group that spreads good vibes and is warmly welcomed by many spectators. However, since incidents occasionally occur at CSDs—incidents that do not originate within our community but are nonetheless unfairly linked to us—we puppies follow specific rules of conduct for these events. These include refraining from sexual acts, keeping primary genitals and the buttocks covered, and not approaching children directly.

- Oreo

About Dan Apus Monoceros:

Dan Apus Monoceros is a kink and relationship coach who has been organizing events for the Berlin puppy community since 2019. He discovered the puppy world through his husband; today, he has three "wuffels" in his kinky family and organizes events—through gay-BDSM.club and the Puppy Circuit—that appeal to both sexual and social puppy players.

About Pup Oreo:

Oreo is Puppy Germany 2022. He has been a puppy for three years and, in his role as Puppy Germany, represents both the social and sexual aspects of puppy play. Not everyone discovers both sides to the same extent. Some people find no appeal in the sexual aspect and engage in purely social puppy play, while others engage in it almost exclusively for sexual purposes. Whether sexual, social, or a mix of both—it is all puppy play.