I remember when “trans-species” was just a fancy word for the ugly lizard guy from Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Ah, those were the good ole days. Back when these sorts of things were on par with circus acts. Just yesterday Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis were dressing up as a couple of broads to make us laugh. People thought a man in women’s clothing was a joke, not an identity. Now… well, we have this.
It’s called “puppy play,” and yes, it’s a serious thing. Adult men slip into leather dog suits and pretend to be puppies. As in baby pet dogs. Don’t worry, I’m cringing too.
Secret Life of the Human Pups [documentary] is a sympathetic look at the world of pup play, a movement that grew out of the BDSM community and has exploded in the last 15 years as the internet made it easier to reach out to likeminded people.
[H]uman pups tends to be male, gay, have an interest in dressing in leather, wear dog-like hoods, enjoy tactile interactions like stomach rubbing or ear tickling, play with toys, eat out of bowls and are often in a relationship with their human “handlers”.
But sit, Sparky, there’s more weird:
In the documentary two pups walk through London pretending to wee on lampposts to raise awareness of their identity. Whether we see it as a kink, an identity, a reaction to an early experience, a form of escapism or a fetish, the main thing, says Tom, is that we see it at all; that we know it’s there and accept it. “It feels like you can be gay, straight, bisexual, trans and be accepted,” he says. “All I want is for the pup community to be accepted in the same way.”