Side note: This has taken me so so long to write oh my, totally worth it though! I found out a lot about my ‘fetish’ through writing this tiny novice guide and found many aspects of it that fit and equally didn’t fit me.

“People who become aroused when acting or imagining themselves as an animal are known as autozoophiles” – https://www.kinkly.com/definition/5064/animal-play-bdsm

Some basics from Wikipedia (incl. stuff I forgot to mention)

A stray= a puppy who is uncollared/unowned

• The Wikipedia page also introduced me to the term psychodrama, which means “Psychodrama is an action method, often used as a psychotherapy, in which clients use spontaneous dramatization, role playing, and dramatic self-presentation to investigate and gain insight into their lives”
• “Cow Play often involves fantasies of lactation and impregnation. The usual limits of safe, sane and consensual apply to roleplay as much as any other activity between humans who accept and respect their partner’s interests and limits. For most, this does not include bestiality”
• “Just because one partner is playing the “pet” does not necessarily make them the passive or submissive play partner in the scene“- Alphas exist people! This is a super good example of dominant pets, especially in the context of an A/B/O roleplay
• “Petplay, especially pup and kitten play seeks to create the same deep emotional connection between the owner/master and submissive/pet. The dom may demand unconditional love and obedience, but they may also train their pet to be more emotionally perceptive and empathic. This helps the sub feel safe and secure in the relationship”
• “Pony play is sometimes referred to as “The Aristotelian Perversion”, in reference to an apocryphal story where the philosopher Aristotle was persuaded to let a woman named Phyllis ride him like a horse, in promised exchange for sexual favors: an episode depicted in various woodcuts and other works of art.”
• “If there is a dominant role it can be taken by a “handler”, “trainer”, “master”, or in the case of someone who also identifies as a pup, an “Alpha”. Not all “pups” or “dogs” are “Alpha”, some consider themselves “Beta” or “Omega”, and as in the canine world hierarchy, “Beta” can refer to someone who has both dominant and submissive or service oriented tendencies depending on the situation where “Omega” generally indicates a more submissive, passive, service oriented and playful nature. Unlike other forms of animal roleplay, it is not uncommon for two or more pups to play together as equals, possibly fight for dominance, or play where one is clearly the “Alpha”.^[6]

• Rough Outline of contents 🙂
• ABO in fanfiction: common tropes, uncommon tropes, general opinions, what’s the appeal etc
• Pet play (bare in mind this is from a beginner’s perspective and I’m simply going on the information I’ve seen and my own preferences)
• Types of pets
• Links between Pets, Slaves and Littles
• Training, Owners, collars and the spectrum of Pet activities
• Roles (Alpha, Beta, Omega)

So A/B/O (Alpha, Beta, Omega) has long since been one of my favourite fanfic tropes, we’ll get into why a little later on but first let’s define shall we? I’ll be your host for today, my name’s George. Let’s get it on people.

Alpha: the “dominant” secondary gender, most Alphas have one defining feature; a knot (alike to a dog or wolf) and can usually impregnate both Omegas and Betas but not other Alphas. An alpha can be of any gender and depending on the author’s specifics may or may not have a rut (the Alpha version of a heat)

Beta: the most “human/normal” of the genders if we’re following the secondary gender = werewolf trope. The Beta is almost like the switch I suppose, they don’t have a knot but they do have a womb (from what I can gather). A Beta can also be of any primary gender.

Omega: the “submissive” secondary gender, Omegas generally don’t get treated great (or they get treated like royalty in cases in which they are rare usually, two extremes am I right?). They have wombs to bear kids (even the males) and they have heats, basically periods of being unbearably hot and needing to have release lol.

Whilst these dynamics are often used to either conform to or break away from traditional gender stereotypes it is important to remember that ABO is a pretty fantasy based kink, it is kinda impossible for a human to have a knot, I’m sure you can probably get knot dildos (edit: you can but they’re fantasy dildos, so are pretty expensive). Where as Pet play, whilst still having fantasy elements (we’re not actual dogs after all) is more of a roleplay that can be 24/7 for some and just occasional for other. Just like CGL Pet play can be either sexual or non-sexual for example, I’ve found more non-sexual littles than sexual ones, I am still exploring to what extent pet play is sexual for me, there are some aspects that are more sexual to me than others but a lot of is rooted in submission, I’m on the fence as to how submissive my inner pup actually is in terms of being a ‘good pup’ versus being a ‘bad pup’.

A/B/O is a super interesting thing for me and links quite nicely with the aspects of pet play I like (although I believe it has more links with prey/predator kink). We will be talking about pet play here, it’s more of a stream of conscious/opinion piece than an articulated piece of writing. We’ll talk about my preferences (I’m a selfish guy sue me :)), some preferences that others may have, some scenarios and then at the end I’ll list all my sources (most of them will probably be Evie Lupine @Youtube, if you’re into DDLG/Pet Play or any kinda D/S stuff, I highly recommend subscribing to her!)

A/B/O in fanfiction

As earlier stated A/B/O is most alive and kicking on fanfiction sights like A03 or Fanfiction.net where it is undoubtedly a ‘guilty pleasure’ for many people, I’m inferring this because A/B/O fics usually get quite a lot of attention, at least where I usually hang out on a03.

Common tropes: heats, Omegas having less status than Alphas, Betas being underappreciated, knotting, scent marking, biting/claiming, mpreg, pregnancy in general, borderline unhealthy possessiveness.

Uncommon tropes: I’d say ruts, usually there’s more of a focus on omegas and their heats, this usually always ends up with a dubcon tag (which I’ve never been 100 per cent comfy with), alphas being soft.

Why do I think A/B/O is always an interesting fanfic trope/kink?

I know A/B/O generally has a pretty bad rap but there are some good fanfics that don’t play on the toxicity of the 80 percent of tasteless smut. It’s the good fanfics that I stay for, trust me I’ve gone through many many bad A/B/O fanfics but there are some genuinely good writers out there that write bad ass A/B/O fics with strong Omega leads and nurting supportive Alphas, there’s one that really got me into the trope which is Overcoming by purefoysgirl on A03 (seriously I cannot recommend it more, the pairing is Hannigram and there are some dark themes in there but the writing is excellent!!!!! and it’s a nice long read which has been saved to my iPad for a while now, I’ve probably read it around 4-5 times and I know it sounds like nothing but this fic is not short 🙂 If you want to check it out, see if A/B/O is something you might like to read, the link down below (best A/B/O fanfic I’ve ever read)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/10024469/chapters/22345538

Pet play: Types of, Roleplay/Scenes, Links between other D/S dynamics, other general stuff (Training, owners, collars, spectrum of pet activities and behaviours)

Pet Play: Usually sexual roleplaying involving Owner/Puppy, Owner/Kitty, Owner/Pet etc. The main stipulation is that one person is either an “owner” or playing the “owner” of the other person, or the submissive person is a “pet” or playing the “pet” of the dominant. Both people involved are ALWAYS adults and ALWAYS human.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=petplay

So, above is general definition of Pet play courtesy of urban dictionary (my wonderful friend and favourite resource) I mean just look at what it says about my name, George “A person who would kick you out of the party for playing Justin Bieber“. However I think that everyone should have their own personal definition of what their kink entails/means to them, so I’ll just haha stick that below :3

The act of being treated like a pet by your dominant and being in a puppy headspace. This headspace allows ‘total submission’ and works based on a rewards/praise and punishment system. Being in Puppy space means the pet (typically submissive) cannot communicate with words, cannot do typically human things (including but not exclusive to; standing up, using fingers, eating with fingers/cutlery and being on furniture) basically for all intents and purposes the pet is required to act as an animal pet would for the time they are engaged in play, with exception to sexual things.

My personal definition of Pet play

Everyone has different hard and soft limits in BDSM, it’s the same thing in pet play! whilst one pet may like being caged, another may not, all this can tie in with your pet personality, for example you may play at being domesticated e.g. a puppy or a kitten and therefore prefer to be caged to fit in with the roleplay or you may be a stray who has not yet been trained. I haven’t really had a chance to explore my pet personality aside from knowing pretty much straight away that it’s puppy play I’m interested in, for me it is roleplay but not intricate role play for example, I’d be my owner/dom’s pup more generally and certain scenes could happen occasionally but it’d be more of a lifestyle thing I’m thinking at the moment where as other pets may like playing in different scenarios like being a stray picked up by a nice stranger etc.

I think every pet has one of two things they do to get into the pet mindset, mine is definitely my collar it really relaxes me and it’s symbolic of being owned by someone. As for less physical Pup space triggers, any kind of praise that you’d give a dog, Good boy always gets me! and commands, holy shit commands man. See look how excited (not sexually guys geez!) I’m getting at the thought of being told to fucking sit! Ahhh pup brain.

So what types of pets have we got? Typically you got three categories; Domestic animals, Farm animals and ‘exotic’ animals (Thanks Evie Lupine for the term). Domestic animals include; Kittens, Puppies, Hamsters, Bunnies, (any kind of domesticated pet you can think of). Farm animals is pretty self explanatory but stuff like cows, pigs, ponies, etc. Exotic animals are more interesting because usually most pets are one of the mainstream three, Kittens, Pups and Ponies but ‘exotic’ pets can range from birds to big cats.

The type of pet you are can also link in with what kinda role play you like and what gear you like (although everyone has a preference for that too!) all BDSM stuff is very personalised, I mean yanno the whole ‘different strokes for different folks’ and all!

I’m gonna keep referencing Pup play because I don’t have much knowledge of other types of play 🙂 but an example of a scenario/roleplay would be “Your *insert preferred name for dominant* may have just come home from work, you’re excited to see them but you know you have to earn their attention, what way you choose to do this is entirely up to you! maybe you’re well trained and know what kinda tricks to do or maybe you prefer to get their attention in more…ahem intimate ways (wink wonk)”

So gear, arguably one of the most important parts of pet play! as previously stated gear is a preference and we do not invalidate based on amount of gear/gear preferences, inner community shaming isn’t cute guys.

Types of gear, so depending on which you prefer there’s differing levels of, I guess you could say intensity. I’m going to outline pros and cons really loosely because I don’t have really any gear at all and I’m just going on common sense. The most comfortable I’d probably say is the collar, depending on the material (I find leather more comfy that ribbon/silk and it tends to get me into Pupspace way easier because it is the kind of collar a dog would wear, in fact it’s a real arse collar. Me and Rob actually got the same one! although obviously their purposes are naturally differing).

• Standard Collar
• (I’m gonna do a little collar talk later)
• Pros: usually made of pretty comfortable materials, easy to take on and off for play, can wear some variant of it in public if you’re a lifestyle pet or if you just appreciate the aesthetic, they are also pretty bendable and so quite easy to hide if you still live at home or live in a shared space.
• Cons: if you don’t like pressure on your neck or restraint its not the best idea, it can be hard to find collars that are your size unless you go on Etsy or some place where custom collars are available, they can also be uncomfortable (depending on personal preference).

• Standard Leash
• Pros: Really easy way to get into pupspace!, not uncomfortable at all (you’ll barely feel it attached to your collar unless it’s tugged ;)), good way to get into pet activity with minimal effort
• Cons: Are there any? I guess it’d get in the way if you were to shower? but other than that not much comes to mind.

• Hood
• (I did a little research for this, so some pets like fur (fur ears, fur tail etc) whereas some prefer leather/rubber gear, me personally I like fur but wouldn’t be opposed to a leather pup hood, they’re super cute and aesthetically pleasing!!
• Pros: More ‘authentic’ for pup play, you’ll physically look more puppylike and this might be preferable, leather and rubber gear tend to be more ‘obvious’ and accepted in the community.
• Cons: I’m guessing they can be pretty expensive (anywhere from £30+), harder to hide, more restrictive (could also be an advantage!), looks pretty hot in there so could be sweaty.

Harness

• (mainly used by ponies but aren’t really restricted to certain types of pet)
• Pros: LOOKS SO GOSH DARN PRETTY (I guess that more of an opinion than a pro but this is my article :p), pretty comfy depending on the type of harness, very good for getting in pony space
• Cons: Not always that relevant to other types of pet play, can be pretty expensive (especially if its leather), sizing could be difficult especially if you’re a chubby bubbie like me :3.

Ears, Ears, Ears!

• Pros: Fluffy, Soft, hella cute, makes you look super submissive, can be cheap depending on the material and where you get it from.
• Cons: Can get uncomfortable after a while of wearing them depending on what headband you have, not as widely accepted in the community from what I’ve heard pup wise, leather pups are the most well known/well understood kind of pup, can be expensive if you’re going for detail.

Tails

• Pros: Really simple way to get into pet space, aesthetically pleasing, makes bum waggling look wayyyyy better, can be tugged gently just like collars, lots of different fastening choices (elastic, ribbon, butt plug etc)
• Cons: expense, especially if you wanna match your tail and your ears, latter two will take training and can’t really be worn in public (effort/time consuming at first), can get you mistaken for a furry (not that that’s a bad thing its just awkward to explain you’re into pet play not the furry fandom)

The Link between Pets, Littles and Slaves

• Pets, slaves and littles all have one thing in common, they’re all submissive denominations, I’ll go over some nice George penned (and ‘official’) definitions for the sake of any novice novices and for the sake of my point.
• Slave: the title of a sub in a Master/Slave Dynamic, there are different kinds of M/S dynamic including ‘Gorean’ M/S, Sexual M/S and non-sexual (by this I mean, the master and the slave do not sleep together, although the slave or master may get pleasure from playing their role)
• “Outside the BDSM community, the relationship of Master/slave is sometimes regarded as a form of consensual sexual slavery. In BDSM, a slave is a specific type of submissive. The Master/slave relationship refers to the relationship between the individuals involved, and does not necessarily require any specific acts, sexual or otherwise, though sexual activity is usually an aspect of the relationship. The sexual aspect could be conventional, and not necessarily BDSM. A slave could also be a masochist or bottom, but this is not always the case.^[4]“- Wikipedia (see source list for link)

Slaves like most sub denominations can be either part-time, occasional or lifestyle but from what I can gather it is slaves and masters who tend to be more life-style typical, slaves alike to pets may be interested in how humiliation works in the dynamic, for example as a pup a certain amount of patronisation/humiliation is expected although the amount the sub wants involved of course varies (me personally I’d only really be chill with my dominant humiliating me not anyone else, I embarrass easily!). A slave may generally like a lot of humiliation as slave/master dynamics are often founded in inferiority/superiority (alike pet play, the pet is generally ‘below’ or inferior to their owner).

Littles: the title of a submissive in a CGL (the gender neutral term) dynamic (this includes DDLG, DDLB, MDLG/LB etc), some Age regressors refer to themselves as littles but regression is at its core a non-sexual practice, if you ‘regress’ and do the sex, it’s not really Agere it’s CGL although you can be into both. For the sake of simplicity when I refer to Littles I refer strictly to age players. Also I’m pretty sure ABDL is something to do with CGL as well but I’m hella lazy and can’t be arsed to explain.

A little is often the submissive partner of CGL relationship, though littles can be single too. Littles are often called names like baby girl or baby boy and princess or prince. They are more childish than their real age. For example, a 20 year old acting like a toddler. They often love colouring, stuffed animals, and watching cartoons. Depending on the age of the little, they may also require sippy cups and or pacifiers. More regressed littles will have a lisp. They often require rules such as bed time and punishments for doing something wrong. Many times, littles will be associated with other’s called ‘caregivers.’ These caregivers can be female or male and are often referred to as ‘mommy’ or ‘daddy.’

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Little

The link? Most pets, specifically ponies or kittens like to be cute or in some cases shy, little’s are typically like this too! I honestly think pet play dips into many different aspects of submission and domination and I really like how flexible it is.

Trainers, Owners, Collaring and pet activities :3

Sometimes a pet may be ‘trained’ by their owner, as aforementioned most pets call their dominant their owner although this isn’t always the case, the use of Miss/Sir or Daddy/Mommy can also be used, people label their doms however they like.

Some typical pet activities include (the ones with an asterisk are the ones I have either tried and the ones with two are the ones I will try):

• Bondage* (restriction of movement including but not exclusively use of collar, leash or harness)
• Non-verbal communication*, a pet usually cannot speak, this is one of the easier ways to get into pet space but also super hard at times, especially if you’re vocal in the bedroom 😉
• Eating/Drinking out of pet bowls* (metal dog bowls etc, usually brought from a pet shop)
• Going to the toilet in a space other than the toilet, this may be outside (in your/your dom’s gardens usually haha) or in a litterbox
• Playing with pet toys** (e.g. a tug of war, a squeaky toy etc)
• Training activities (this is where it gets fun! Pets often need training, a dog won’t always obey its owner or they may be taught tricks, human pets are just the same, an important part of getting into pet headspace is acting as a pet would)
• Engaging in typical pet behaviour* (touched upon in the previous bullet point, typical pet behaviour depends on the exact pet, Pups= whining (I do this a lotttt),barking, Kittens= meowing, purring etc, Ponies= whiny)
• Linking to bondage, caging, some pets like to be caged (adds to headspace, reminds them that they aren’t the ones in control e.g. power play)

One of the sources linked below (https://www.submissiveguide.com/dsrelationships/articles/pet-play-human-pets-primer) makes many good points about safety that I will copy below (I’m far too lazy to paraphrase)

• “When it comes to eating actual animal food, while it is okay for perhaps a short scene, it is not safe to do so on a regular basis. Humans have different nutritional needs than animals do, and it is incredibly important to get your nutritional needs met. There are many ways to simulate animal food and treats such as mashing up meatloaf with ketchup, using stews or even baking treats in the shapes of bones and such. However, for any long-term play, Eukanuba, Purina and any other brand of animal food you use, are for canines and felines, not humans.
• If you choose to use training and/or shock collars, please, read the instructions!”
• If you put your pup slave into a kennel, please keep in mind that they are very cramped. You do not want your pup slave to be damaged from being in that position for long periods of time.
• If the submissive has had their ability to move and speak restricted it is incredibly important that some form of communication is available to them so that they may communicate if something has happened and/or gone wrong, both physically and emotionally.
• Also, in my opinion having a human pet can add some responsibility to the Dom because when some of the submissive’s humanity is taken away and especially if their communication is restricted, the Dominant must that much more aware of the submissive’s frame of mind.” – https://www.submissiveguide.com/dsrelationships/articles/pet-play-human-pets-primer

The spectrum of pet play dum dum dum…

• Like a lot of other kinks PP has a spectrum! from the more ‘extreme’ to the more ‘mainstream’ (well mainstream for the pet community haha).
• “In more extreme cases, a human pet may wear masks or prosthetics or undergo bondage-based body modifications to more closely resemble the animal. Masters might restrict their pet’s movements by keeping them in a cage or off the furniture or force them to use a litter box rather than a human toilet” – https://www.kinkly.com/definition/5064/animal-play-bdsm
• The above mentioned activities are ‘extreme’ subjectively, whilst a more mainstream pet may see it as extreme, a pet who does it regularly may not, subjectively people 🙂
• “Sometimes puppy play may involve two “pups” fighting for dominance.” – https://www.kinkly.com/definition/5064/animal-play-bdsm
• Relating to the above that’s a new thing for me, but it sounds pretty legit (by that I mean, typical pup behaviour, at least in certain roleplays) I’ve also heard of breeding roleplays (Oi oi Evie Lupine) in which owners may ‘breed’ their pets as real owners would (of course all of this would be consensual and pre discussed)

Roles (Alpha, Omega, Beta), pack dynamics and common definitions.

Alpha: the pup who is the ‘top dog’ no pun intended, they are pack leaders but their most important job is to look after all the pups in the pack.

Omega: The most submissive role in a pack

Beta: A pup who is submissive to the alpha in the pack

Hood: a piece of typical leather pup gear that is used to help a pup get into pup space.

Collar: signifies a pup is taken.

A Pack: A group of pups and/or handlers.

Toys: “Any other toy used to play with a pup (sexual or non-sexual)” – Taken from a blog post on puppy pride

Mosh: when a group of pups/dogs play together

Puppy: A person who identifies more with being playful and less about obedience (I suppose a well trained pup could evolve into a dog)

Dog: A person who identifies more with being obedient and not so much with being playful.

Handlers: the person that takes care of the pup, Idk if they would also count as being your dom, I think it’s dependant on how sexual pet play is for the individual.

Trainers: Someone who trains puppies in matters of obedience.

From what I can gather a pack can be structured in many different ways,

Pet Play + me (as if I haven’t talked enough about my opinions)

How: So the main way I found PP (Pup play shortened), was through this blog, yep. On my travels I came across Pet play and found myself intrigued by it, previously I had found unflattering portrayals of it but I was interested in the dynamic of a pet/owner and the way it could work for me in relation to A/B/O (Yes my Pup play does have many A/B/O features, because really A/B/O is my main kink and all my other kinks are either a part of that or can tie into it in someway). I started looking into things and the gear that I found so terrifying at the beginning of my journey I now find very aesthetically pleasing and ultimately symbolic of an ideal intimate relationship.

Why: I just do, haha no, don’t worry we’ll go into it properly, Pup space is very soothing, its nice to only have a singular goal; to please your master/owner, that’s very therapeutic to me, not having to worry about stupid adulty stuff.

Current gear/how I utilise it: I have a leather collar and lead (the collar isn’t super comfortable but the lead is lovely, the texture is nice and would be excellent for sensory stuff), I also recently got a really comfy fabric collar (an actual dog collar is always preferable to me, not only does it make me feel more pup-like but its far more masculine I find, lace/ribbon collars are beautiful but tend to be more geared towards a female audience, plus there’s something nice and ritualistic about being put into a collar), I also have a onesie which I plan to use for both agere (sfw) and as a comfy way for me to be a pup (seeing as most pups like to be either naked, in leather or partially naked), I also have some husky ears on the way (most pups choose a pup/dog to model themselves after, mine choice is a husky)

• Dream Gear/ Gear that I want

Some super helpful sources (these will be ongoing and new stuff will inevitably be added)

https://www.lovense.com/bdsm-blog/pet-play

Everything you need to know about pet play

https://www.submissiveguide.com/dsrelationships/articles/pet-play-human-pets-primer

https://www.kinkly.com/definition/5064/animal-play-bdsm

• https://straytranspup.wordpress.com/2015/02/26/pet-play-furryfur-vs-leatherrubber/
• https://www.deviantart.com/waagnat/art/Locked-in-Stable-546133973
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master/slave_(BDSM)#Slave
• https://www.deviantart.com/mjranum-stock/art/The-Gor-Project-1-97771601
• https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Little
• https://www.kinkly.com/definition/5064/animal-play-bdsm
• I also really recommend Puppypride! there’s not a lot of blog posts and I haven’t explored extensively but its an excellent place to start for sure.