Puppy Play: Is It Zooey?
Arf! Woof! Bark! Yip!
That's right, for those fluent in puppy, we're getting around to talking about something that literally everybody was asking for, puppy play! We've gotten a lot of questions from concerned zoos out there asking "Hey Tarro, I want to do puppy play with my human partner, but I'm concerned. There might be animal adjacent activities involved, but at the end of the day, we're just two humans wearing stuff in the style of dogs. We're appropriating canine culture. Is this really zooey? And to that I say, read to the end of the article, I'm not about to spoil the whole thing right at the start. Do you know how bad our retention would be if I just dropped a definitive yes or no right at the start here? And don't you dare think about just scrolling down to the bottom to just read that. I can see the gleam in your eyes, especially now that I've mentioned it and told you expressly not to. Okay before I give you any more ideas lets just jump into the article already.
I'm going to assume if you're reading this you've probably come across the idea of puppy play at least once in your life. But for the uninitiated, let me go over the basics. Puppy play is a form of role play where one person, typically a human, acts like a dog. And then the other person, typically also a human, acts like a person who has a dog. I've tried doing puppy play with my partner but when he's the dog, it feels pretty much exactly like normal, and I'll be honest he doesn't take to the human role very well.
Outside of the roleplaying, there's also a lot of accessorizing that goes along with it. The most common of which being "pup hoods" They're essentially masks that you can put on with ears and a muzzle. Other, similar canine-like wearables are common as well. Things like tails, leashes, collars, and harnesses.
I'm sure in your head if you're not someone familiar with the idea of puppy play, you're probably drawing a lot of parallels to another animal based community prominent on the internet, furries. And you're right! There are a lot of similarities! The difference tends to be in tone and aestetic. Furries tend to be very soft, colorful, and well, furry. Puppy play on the other hand has its roots more in the BDSM scene, and while there's a ton of crossover, you're likely to see a lot more leather, neoprene, and . Also, as far as coloration goes, it tends to be black with colored accents, as opposed to rainbows and pastels. There's"sparkle-pup"
So if it leans more into BDSM, does that make it a kink thing? Well, it's complicated, and depends a lot on who you ask. If you're a social media user, you've probably seen the posts about "pup hoods at conventions" It's one of the four seasonal discourses along with old people, feral art, and . To some, pup hoods are a kink experience. But for a lot of people, much like a fursuit head a pup hood can just be used as a form of expression. It doesn't need to be sexual, in the same way that furry things can be adult but don't have to be. Just because something takes inspiration from an adult concept doesn't necessarily mean that thing is adult in nature.
Puppy play is a way to self express. It lets you get out of your human brain and enter something that I like to call the "pup-zone" but most people call the much more boring "pup space" Lots of people partake in it both sexually and non-sexually as a way to kick back, relax, and enjoy the natural affection that dogs bask in.
But, is it zooey?
Well, it's complicated. I know I teased you with a yes or no answer back at the start of the article, but nothing is ever that simple, is it? To figure out whether or not puppy play is zooey, we might have to do something that franky we probably should have done on our first "is it zooey" article, define what it actually means to *be* zooey.
We've previously defined a zoosexual as someone has an attraction, sexually or romantically, to animals. That's about as basic as it gets, and encompasses pretty much any situation I think would be applicable. so for a thing to be zooey, it would have to have elements of zoo characteristics. Namely, humans and animals that are attracted to each other. So for instance, we've called Pokemon zooey because Pokemon are stand ins for animals, and there are people that date Pokemon. We've called League of Legends zooey because wow there are actually a lot of champions horny for animals. But I would not call the Lion King zooey even though it features two animals who kiss because there's no crossspecies element to it.
So, what about puppy play? Well, taking it back to the start of the article, puppy play is when one pe roleplay as a dog, and one person roleplays as a human. So there are certainly the right pieces in play. But, there's more to it than just having a human and an animal in the same story. Game of Thrones, for instance, has horses in it, but I would not consider the relationship with any of the horses shown on screen to be zooey. So to figure out whether or not puppy play is zooey, we need to dig deeper.
What actually is puppy play? What does "doing" puppy play actually look like? Here's where we have something important to mention.
In the past couple of years, puppy play as a thing has really blown up, quickly gaining mass popularity not just as a kink, but as a look and a vibe. Most major cities have puppy play events, same with pretty much every furry convention. But, a lot of what happens at those events I like to liken to something akin to cosplay more than roleplay. People dress up in hoods and tails, collars and leashes, and they congregate to arf and bark and nuzzle each other. But that's where the dog activities tend to end. From there, everyone drinks alcohol (which dogs should *not* do), talk in human words (which dogs also don't tend to do), and just in general hang out. The idea of puppy play as a mass phenomenon is less about the actual dogification of a person, and more about being in a space where it's not weird to call people cute and give them pets and affection, and it helps that they might be in canine couture, but that tends to be more for the lookthan anything else. In the same way that wearing a rainbow doesn't make you gay, wearing a pup hood doesn't make you zooey.
This is, however, not the full extent of what puppy play is for everyone. I mentioned previously that puppy play has its roots in BDSM. It's a form of dom/sub dynamic just like many other variations of it. form of BDSM dynamic ha similar roots, but different flavors. For the sub, the difference of role is a difference of the headspace that you're in. For puppy play, a lot of it is about playing as an animal that has a lesser status to the owner. You have a lack of care and responsibility about the world around you, but that comes with a lack of power and control. There are also things that animals are more comfortable doing than humans are, what with their lessened social anxiety about things. For instance, while in the puppy-zone, you might be more likely to go up to a stranger and ask for pets, something that would probably be pretty weird if you were just at the grocery store. And for the human in the scenario, the get to play out the joy of having an animal that they love and cherish without the complications of actually having an animal in their life. Like a dog that can also help pay the bills, or wash the dishes, but also loves to get pets and be affectionate here's also an element of power that come from the ability to reduce another human's status to that of an animal.
For people that take puppy play to the point wher doggy bowls and beds and crates and such involved, it reaches a very different kind of level than that of the casual pup. Puppy play s a fun vibe to play in about actually putting someone in the headspace of an animal, where as puppy play as a lifestyle is much more focused on that concept.
And, yes, puppy play also does frequently involve more adult acts as well. I don't want to spend too long on it since this article is already pushing it a little bitut it feels worth mentioning that for many people, the dog/human roleplay does involve getting intimate
So where does that leave us as far as the zooeyness of it all? It's definitely starting to seem more like a yes to me. Here's the way that I see it. Obviously, yes, at the end of the day it's two humans that are playing around with roles. I'm sure that anyone who engages in puppy play but doesn't want to affiliate with zoos would be quick to point that out. But, just because it's a simulation of a zoo relationship, that doesn't mean that the end result isn't a zoo relationship. I think of it like this. Say that you're a really big fan of paintball. You're out there with your tac gear and your super expensive gun, you've got your quick load paint belt and your camo vest with extra padding. You're at that point roleplaying as a combatant in conflict. By no means is it at all the same severity, nor does being good at paintball mean that you'd be good in a real firefight, or in a war, but I would say that you're someone who enjoys combat. Or, say that you and your friends like to go out and kick the football around. You have a local field that you play on, and for an hour or so once a week you really get into the game. You're playing the game, but it's fun and it's casual and it's just with friends. Does that make you a football player?
Puppy play is like this in my eyes. I would by no means call anyone that engages in healthy roleplay a zoo if that's their only engagement with the concept. But, I would say that to roleplay as a human an an animal in a relationship, that's pretty damn zooey.
And for the pups in the audience reading this, arf arf bark awooo!
Article written by Tarro (August 2024)
Find them at https://twitter.com/hereforthezoo
Questions, comments or concerns? Check out our Discord server! discord.gg/EfVTPh45RE
