Trend Puppy Play - Why do some people wear dog masks on the street?
Your Hobby? Dog playing. So-called Pups (or Pupys) – named after the English "pup" or "puppy" for puppy – know that many are fond of it. Some people show themselves even excited, isn't that perverse? Once again this summer, many younger men have been seen – for instance during Christopher Street Days – with leather or neoprene dog masks. What's the deal with this phenomenon that has even called police and politics into play?
Pup Play is a role-play. In recent years, it has become a more visible phenomenon – for example, on social media and at queer parades and festivals. Human Pup Play, however, is mostly non-sexualized nowadays and clamors for recognition and inclusion in the queer scene and society.
"Being a dog as a hobby"
"In the hobby of Pup Play, it's about immersing oneself into the role of a dog and imitating its behavior," says ethnologist Konstantin Mack, who wrote his Master's thesis on this topic at the University of Würzburg ("A Dog One Must Be – Cultural Anthropological Perspectives on Pup Play"). "Plainly put: It's adults who enjoy, in their free time, chasing a ball around on all fours."
Characteristic for many Pup Players are masks, collars, and leashes, which are supposed to facilitate the immersion into the dog role. A charm lies in designing one's own dog character – with individual personality and fitting accessories. "In Germany, the first associations were founded around 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 balls, growling, letting themselves be scratched, bossing around handlers or handlers bossing them around. Everyday worries are pushed aside during play.
The German community is estimated by Mack to number in the hundreds of thousands, including Austria, which is "surely" in the six-digit range. In most medium-sized and large cities in the German-speaking area, there are regular meetups, where, according to experience, only a small fraction of the practicing people participate. Many practice this hobby simply for themselves or primarily online.
Origins of the Dog Fetish
Historically, Pup Play, as Mack explains, goes back to the 1940s and 1950s in the American queer community, where leather scenes developed. Back then, role-plays between (human) dog and the "handler" called master or mistress were common. This was often connected to sadomasochistic sex.
Over the decades, the focus of Pup Play shifted, making it increasingly important to immerse oneself in the behavior of a puppy, says Mack. To this day, most Puppies have been 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 asexual.
How sexually connoted is Pup Play?
Is there still much to do with sex today? Mack says: "The pure role-play, or activities with other Puppies, is for the majority a purely social action – a hobby, like theater or swimming. Reducing Pup Play to sexual actions does not do justice to the complexity of the scene, as the social aspect and shared play are in the foreground. It's about living it up, discovering new things, questioning social norms, and meeting like-minded people."
Even a former Dogplayer finds this strange. "I'm bothered that it's being sold so brazenly today," says Thomas (44) from Berlin (Dog name: Gary). "Puppy Play has become a kind of club affair – with uniform and often very expensive masks. Instead of being proudly named as a freed sexuality and kinky fetish, it's being hidden away."
Puppy Play and the Police
The trend phenomenon also caused trouble. In the most populous federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, there was a debate in the state parliament in the summer of 2023 about whether Pup-Play masks at the Christopher Street Day were an expression of free personality development or prohibited disguise (this applies if wearers intended to hinder identity verification for the purpose of criminal prosecution).
The red-green state government clarified in a response to an SPD inquiry that this should always be checked on a case-by-case basis. If masking is not prohibited by criminal law or the assembly right, one may also participate in a demo 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, as well as similar cases in 2019 in Aachen and 2018 in Essen.
"Engaging in Pup Play as a hobby can be seen as a form of meditation, as it allows individuals to immerse themselves fully into the role of a dog and forget about their daily worries."
"Pup Play, while originally having sexual connotations, has evolved over time to become a social activity for many, with individuals from various gender identities and sexual orientations participating."
