Let more puppies out more and more
They chase after balls, growl, let themselves be scratched and annoy Masters or Mistresses. Pup Play is a role-play game, where adults take on the role of a dog. Sometimes it also involves sex.
Your hobby? Dog playing. So-called puppies (or pupys) - named after the English "pup"/"puppy" for puppy - know that many laugh about their fondness. Some show themselves even indignant, isn't that perverse? Once again this summer, young men with leather or neoprene dog masks were seen at Christopher Street Days. What's it all about? Time for an approach to a phenomenon that has also called the police and politics into play.
Pup Play is a role-play game. In the last few years, it has become a more visible phenomenon - on social networks and at queer parades and festivals. Human Pup Play now comes mostly without sexualization and vies for recognition and inclusion in the queer scene and society.
Dog playing as a hobby
"The point of Pup Play is to immerse oneself in the role of a dog and imitate its behavior," explains ethnologist Konstantin Mack, who wrote his Master's thesis on this topic at the University of Würzburg ("A Dog Must Be One - Cultural Anthropological Perspectives on Pup Play"). "Plainly put: It's adults who enjoy spending their free time chasing after balls on all fours."
Characteristic for many Pup Players are masks, collars, leather, which are supposed to facilitate the entry into the dog role. A charm lies in designing one's own dog character - with individual personality and suitable accessories. "In Germany, the first associations were founded roughly six years ago, and since then, the scene has been growing steadily," says Mack, who is now a doctoral candidate at the Institute for European Ethnology of the University of Vienna.
"A almost meditative state"
Central to Pup Play is the so-called Headspace, explains Mack. "With that, Puppies describe their feeling when they completely immerse themselves in their role. For many, it's a almost meditative state, because their thinking and acting are focused only on what puppies like to do." This includes playing, chasing after balls, growling, letting themselves be scratched, and annoying Masters or Mistresses. Everyday worries are pushed aside during play.
The German community is estimated by Mack to number in the hundreds of thousands, including Austria, "certainly" in the six-digit range. In most medium-sized and large cities in the German-speaking area, there are regular meetings, where, according to experience, only a fraction of the practicing people participate. Many practice this hobby simply for themselves or primarily online.
Connections to SM-Sex
Historically, Pup Play, as Mack explains, goes back to the 1940s and 1950s, when the leather scene developed in the queer community in America. Back then, role-playing between (human) dog and the "Handler" named Master or Mistress came about. This was often linked to sadomasochistic sex.
"Over the decades, this shifted, so that the playful joy of immersing oneself in the behavior of a puppy became increasingly important," says Mack. To this day, most Puppies are gay. This can be explained historically with the connection to the leather-, lacquer- and latex-scene. However, fundamentally, Pup Play is not bound to gender or sexual orientation. Puppies can be male, female, non-binary, gay, lesbian, bi, hetero, or even asexual.
## How is Sexually Connoted is Pup Play?
Does it still have much to do with Sex today? Mack says: "The pure role-play, that is activities with other Puppies, is for the majority a purely social action - a hobby, like theater playing or swimming. Reducing Pup Play to sexual actions does not do justice to the complexity of the scene, the social aspect and the shared play are in the foreground." It's about living it up, discovering new things, questioning social norms, and meeting like-minded people.
Even earlier Dogplayers find this strange. "I'm bothered that it's being sold so bravely today," says Thomas (44) from Berlin (Dog name: Gary). "Dogplay has become a kind of club affair - with uniform and often very expensive masks. Instead of being proudly called a liberated sexuality and a perverted kink."
Puppies and the Police
This trend phenomenon also caused trouble. In the most populous federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, there was a debate in the Landtag last summer about whether Pup-Play masks at the Christopher Street Day were an expression of free personality development or prohibited disguise (this was the case if mask wearers wanted to prevent identity verification for the purpose of prosecution).
The red-green state government clarified in response to an SPD inquiry that this should always be checked on a case-by-case basis. If masks are not prohibited by law or the assembly right, one can also participate in a demonstration masked.
There is no ban on fetish masks "from aesthetic, political, or moral perspectives." The reason for the inquiry was a mask ban by the police at the CSD in Recklinghausen and similar cases in 2019 in Aachen and 2018 in Essen.
The inclusion of Pup Play in the LGBTQI community and queer festivals has led to a shift in its perception, with many individuals embracing it as a hobby devoid of sexualization. However, historically, the practice has roots in the 1940s and 1950s leather scene in America, where role-playing between human dogs and handlers often involved sadomasochistic sex.
Despite the historical connection, Pup Play is not inherently bound to sexual orientation or gender. While many Puppies are gay, the activity can be enjoyed by individuals of any sexuality or gender identity, including non-binary, lesbian, bisexual, heterosexual, or asexual individuals.
