A NEW trend is sweeping the country – puppy play.
People across Britain are now showing their love for dressing up as dogs.
The trend is the focus of Channel 4’s latest documentary, Secret Life of the
Human Pups, and the idea is simple – people dress up in latex dog outfits
and pretend to be canines.
The people who take part in it claim it’s nothing but puppy love for dressing
up, but others aren’t so sure, with the meet ups often being seen as a place
for BDSM lovers.
Theatre technician, Tom Peters, has been participating in the puppy play for
several years now and believes to have spent around £4,000 on his hobby.
He was recently seen on This Morning dressed as a Dalmation called Spot,
alongside his ex-fiance Rachel.
Demonstrating what it means to be a part of puppy play, Tom was seen sitting
like a dog and eating dog treats.
Tom claims that puppy play has no sexual connotations, but it’s unusual nature
has had a massive impact on his everyday life.
Speaking on This Morning, the pair revealed on their relationship suffered as
a result of Tom’s obsession.
“I didn’t understand it,” Rachael told the , “I didn’t want to understand it.”
The pair broke up in 2008 after Rachael discovered his hobby, but has since
come to terms with his obsession and is now a close friend.
“He was more into lycra and he would like to walk around with other
like-minded pups but I couldn’t get my head around it,” Rachael revealed.
But Tom is adamant that his hobby is completely harmless and is a form of
escapism.
“When you’re into it, you ignore what’s going on around you in terms of money
and food,” Tom said on This Morning.
“It’s not sexual, it’s just escapism to get away from everything that’s run of
the mill. There’s no sexual aspect to the puppy side.”
While the trend is the focus of a new documentary, puppy play has been popular
for some years now.
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Speaking to the the director of the documentary, Guy Simmonds, said: “There’s lots
of events up and down the country.
“At first I thought it was just one or two guys behind closed doors doing this
thing, but actually there’s a big thriving community. Who are very out and
proud about what they do.
“We went with Tom to film several events, and there’s a pup social, which is
bi-monthly event which gets something like 150 members coming down.”
With puppy play now being a global phenomenon, and meet ups occurring all
across the world, it is seen as a harmless ‘child-like’ piece of play.
However many people still believe the trend is rooted in sex and BDSM.
“There is definitely a BDSM kink to the community,” he says.
“But on the other side of the spectrum is purely escapism and role-play and a
way for young guys to express themselves and meet other young guys.”
This is a key element to what has drawn people such as Tom to puppy play.
As without puppy play he wouldn’t have met his handler – Colin.
Describing their relationship he said: “It’s not love. We’re soul mates.
“I have slept on a cage along the way. Colin will be in the bed and I’ll be on
the floor.
“It’s not a dominant submissive relationship though. It’s more care, love and
handler.”
The craze even has it’s own form of social media – Puppy Pride, a site similar
to Facebook, but exclusively for those interested in taking part in puppy
play.
Sites such as these have sprung up over recent years as according to the
Channel 4 show there are now 10,000 people taking part in puppy play in the
UK alone.
There are even national competitions, similar to Crufts, but just for puppy
play lovers.
Including the Mr Puppy UK, a competition that Tom was crowned winner of last
year.
Tom hopes the documentary will bring the hobby into the maintstream, and will
allow people to develop a better understanding of why people take part in
it.
“Until you try it, I don’t think it is fair for anyone to judge who we are,”
he says.
And while we may not understand it, we certainly think Tom looks fetching in
his dog outfit and can’t wait to learn more about it.
Secret Life of the Human Pups is on Channel 4 Wednesday at 10pm