The first time I saw a human being wearing a dog collar I was playing bass and singing in a Riot Grrl band back in the early nineties. I went to Kmart the next morning and bought a dozen. I rocked them everywhere and everyone just thought it was me being punk and silly, nobody knew that in my head -and heart-I was a long haired white puppy with gleaming eyes and a loving Owner.I know it sounds as if I simply grew up puppy and lived happily ever after. While my puppy-ness has been a lifelong thing it is not that simple. I know we have come a long way toward being accepted in the community because I was just at International Miss Leather with my Dominant and right next to our whip vending booth was a booth that sold pet accessories including bowls, ears and tails. It was not always so, I used to have to make my paws from old socks and duct tape and my tail was a bit of a Halloween costume. Back then dungeons did not have the puppy play spaces that so many are boasting today. Being a puppy was thought to be a little odd by most, I often got asked if I would not rather be a pony. (Uh…no but I know a few and love them.) Many thought that it meant I wanted to be fucked doggie style or that I wanted to be fucked by a dog. There was a lot that went into accepting myself. Only after I accepted that having an inner puppy did not mean I am a freak was I able to say, without any trace of shame, that I am a puppy and allow myself to be given a puppy name. To be accepted by others took time. I have resigned myself to the inevitable questions that many ask about the space. Some are interested because they have an inner pet dying to be unleashed and others are just curious.I recently found myself on a thread that asked if puppy play and primal play is the same. I said there and say again : no, it isn’t. Primal play is based on urges. It can encompass not only action but appetite. It is raw and instinct driven. It often has sexual activity, or feeding, at its core.

Puppy play, at least for me, is not at all the same as primal play. I do not lose myself so totally that I have no ability to come out of puppy space when I need to, even if my Owner has not given me a cue. Like many puppies sex while in puppy space is not something I want or need or will even consider, much less allow. I just am not into it. But that does not mean you will not be. Your puppy is your puppy.

I do not experience the beast within like so many who are into primal play do. I do not feel a huge endorphin rush in puppy space. What I feel is relief quite often. That sounds strange but consider that I am a woman who has a demanding life with many obligations and responsibilities. While sub space can and does provide me with a way to escape those pressures and to let off steam, so to speak, puppy play allows me to become prankish, playful and to do things that would otherwise earn me a solid punishment. I have been known to chew up a magazine or pee on the rug. I have howled at the moon. I have also found it easier to get the attention that I really need: cuddling, petting, pats on my head because I know it need not be reciprocated by anything more than a lick on my Owner’s hand or a pleasurable wriggle of my tail……

Full Article CONTINUED at Leatherati : http://www.leatherati.com/leatherati_issues/2011/05/hello-princess.html