Human Puppy Play & BDSM Training 1: Finding The Headspace

by Brian Dawson

This is part 1 of a 4 part series on puppy play.

Part 2: Types of Dogs and Puppies
Part 3: Biology – Veterinary Tips for the Human Dog
Part 4: Basic Training

There are those of us in this wide world who, for one reason or another, identify with animals. For some it’s ponies, others pigs, and of course there’s always dogs. In my case, well, I’m a dog.

For each of us, somewhere down in there there’s an animal. It’s the thing you were before you learned who you are — the parts of you that had communication before language, interaction before expectations, and contact before you learned how to manipulate your reality. The animal within is the thing that existed prior to your preconceptions about people, the world, or your self. It is this animal, to some extent the ‘id’ in the Jungian or transpersonal sense, that some of us identify with real world animals. This binding of the inner beast with the nature and symbolism of another animal can produce a truly powerful means of expression and an entirely different way of experiencing. The inherent simplicity, the “is-ness” of any scenario, from domestic life to intense BDSM play, is something that defies verbal description. Communication and interaction tend to be more direct and up front. Words like “pain” and “pleasure” begin to lose their internalized meanings as one loses his ability to use human language, thus direct experience without interpretation tends to become the order of the day.

For some, simply “being treated like an animal” is the point. The slave who eats from a bowl on the floor, sleeps at the foot of the bed, is leashed & collared and forced to experience the inherent humiliation of being treated like an animal for his Master’s pleasure — this is a reasonable example, depending on the context. This is not, however, what I’d like to cover here.

Some, myself included, are more interested in fully identifying with the animal – being the animal, a human dog in this case. A human dog could be defined as a person who has adopted the characteristics, identity, behavior, and so on of a real to dog to whatever extent possible within the constraints of what their mind and body will allow. The ultimate scenario would be that of a person in “dog mind” all of the time, something which probably occurs infrequently. This interpretation of dog training could to some extent be described as a given path or practice within the context of BD/SM as opposed to a scene.

In order for a boy to really achieve the depth and scope of a good dog mind, he needs to know his place. If you truly want your boy to be the animal that he is, then you need to give him a proper frame of reference. I’ll go into more detail in the later sections, but here are some of the more basic points for prospective masters/owners/ trainers to ponder:

The Dog Must Remain on All Fours

After all, a dog’s dominion is the floor, right? Keeping him on all fours in crucial to the psychology of the thing. Putting him there should be no problem, he may even be eager to do it. As time goes by, keeping him there can become another story. At some point the animal is probably going to get tired of walking about on all fours, or bored, or he may be just plain rebellious. It’s during these moments that you have to react immediately then floor him and punish him to reinforce his position. Restraints can also be of good use here.

The Dog May Not Use Human Speech

When was the last time you heard a dog say something in any human language? This is perhaps the most powerful tool that can be used in building up the dog psychology in your boy’s head. Dogs communicate in barks, woofs, yips, and whimpers. Along with body language, these vocalizations should give your boy a more than adequate range of expression to get his point across. With time and practice he will learn to tune the depth, pitch, and other factors surrounding his vocalizations so that he can make them even more highly communicative. Help him refine his technique by punishing anything even vaguely human that passes his lips. Also, the less a boy thinks in any given language, the more readily and easily the animal mentality can grow.

Teach Your Boy to Avoid Thinking in Pronouns

Pronouns are the great separators of language; they create an artificial barrier between a person and their world. Without using “he” “me” “I” and the rest in the internal dialogue, a person slowly but surely begins to drop their internal barriers and starts to fully appreciate contact and experience. Doing this little Zen bit will eventually lead to a state of raw and total awareness and non conceptual thinking — the state your favorite animals are in their entire lives.

Dogs Don’t Use Furniture

Except in the case of a doggie bed, I’ve never met a canine who had furniture, or a pet owner who willingly let their dog onto the furniture. A dog should live on the floor day and night unless for some reason he has special permission from his master. Attempts to crawl up on the couch should be rewarded with a sharp swat on the rump and a loud “NO”, or other suitable punishment. If you choose to let the animal sleep on your bed, put him at the foot where he belongs and make him show thanks by gently cleaning your feet with his tongue as you drift off to sleep.

Dogs Don’t Understand the Toilet

This one is not a hard and fast rule, as not all pets or their owners can handle it. Still, when was the last time you saw a dog use the facilities? At the minimum your pet should be forced to raise one leg over the tub or bowl to pee. In addition, you may wish to teach him to squat over the bowl so that he may carry out his other duties. In a more in depth scenario, you may choose to paper train your dog instead, taking into account that you may not always be available to walk him. If you have the space for a secluded outdoor kennel, then all he needs is to pick a corner. If your geography and level of privacy allow, you should probably attempt to walk him often enough to avoid all of this, if it suits you.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brian Dawson has given workshops on dogslave training and the “dog mind”.

This piece first appeared in S/M Perspectives (Vol 2, Issue 3), independently published in Vancouver by Rainfall Press in 2004.

Deviance & Desire