Practical Guide To First Human Pup Play Session (In My Humble Opinion)

April 9, 2025

Puppy play is a practice in which people take on the persona of a dog (or Handler), with participants often wearing specialist gear to further enhance the experience of being a puppy.

Are you unsure what to expect trying pup play for the first time? Pup (and website manager) Billy gives us a quick guide for that initial session being Pup rather than Sub from his experience. He isn’t the authority and others experiences may vary - but offering an opinion and advice in the holes it may help.

Hour Before Pup Play Session

As you get ready/travel prepare to fully embrace the pup headspace with:

Expectations: Reflect on what you are looking to get out of pup play journey.
Releasing: Take a few moments to set and forget thoughts of work and daily problems and focus so you can just be present. Pups don’t have to have a call with IT on Monday about a change request - so use time to reset.
Trigger Words: Start using trigger words like “Good Boy” as you get ready (even just mentally) to help you get into the pup headspace.

Starting Pup Play Session

Don’t stress - every Dom is different and will like/include different elements in the session. They will be more than happy to guide you as both work towards this shared experience. Try to ask your questions up front though - as it means less stop/start once you kick off.

Start of session keep it simple with basic meta-signals. They include; being on all fours and moving around on knees in an energetic fashion as handler indicates, nudging and long sustained pushes with head to show affection and attention, responding with guttural sounds and exclamations from back of throat (eg grr! yip!), play bows (front elbows down and bottom in the air), bouncy movements, having relaxed, partly open mouth and lying down or stopping to pause play for brief moments as directed.

During Pup Play Session

Physical props help you get into headspace for first time and understand the pup persona. Getting added in over time.

Pet play may, but not always, include special attire and gear:

collars to set up that dom/sub dynamic for the session,
dog bowls to get drinks as it’s a very tactile dog behaviour,
butt plug tails that through wagging you will really start being able to communicate back from pup persona,
pup hoods allow you to give yourself to persona being built as own identity (these may include muzzles, blindfolds and ball gags added/removed as needed),
chew toys like rubber bones and balls for games of fetch as handler sets tasks with basic commands to train pup and demonstrate dominance,
pup paws which are leather pouches that go on hands to make them into paws with the same functionality - taking away hands/fingers in this way really locks you into using the movements and headspace (and is another way that you demonstrate further trust, submission and ownership to the handler).

Commands/Sounds You May Hear During Pup Play Session

Arf
Arooo

Bark(s)
Barooo
Belly Rubs/rolls over for belly rubs
Boops
Bork

Chases (Ball, Sir, Car)
Clicks Leash
Cuddles/Cuddles next to
Curls up

Digs
Ducks (from swats)

Ear Rubs
Excited Skritches

Flops

Gives Treat
Grabby Paws
Grrr

Head Pats
Hides

Lays at feet
Licks

Nose Pokes
Noses
Nudges
Nuzzles

Paws at
Pets
Pounces (on Sir, ball, treat)

Rawr
Rolls Over
Ruffles Head Fur
Ruff

Slurps
Sir Nuzzles
Sniffs
Snuzzle (a snuzzle is a nuzzle with a muzzle)
Skritches
SkritchesSkritchesSkritches
Swats

Tackles
Tackles Sir
Thumps foot/paw/hind leg
Throws Ball
Tosses Ball

Walkies
Wag
WagWagWag
Wags Happily
Wimpers
Woof
Wruff

Puppy play means role-playing as a dog, down on all fours and barking. So yes, it might feel a bit weird at first. But, give it a go and you may find that in addition to sexual pleasure it helps you relax, let go inhibitions and explore your own identity.