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Why Do People Pet Play and Animal Play?
Humans have always been captivated by animals, from ancient cave drawings to modern day costumes and toys. Throughout history, we’ve drawn them, dressed as them, and even incorporated them into our fantasies. Now, that fascination has evolved into something more primal — leading to the exciting world of pet play kink and animal roleplay fetish.
The truth is, this fascination with animals didn’t start last night. For centuries, humans have been curious about animals and their behavior. For some, this curiosity goes beyond simple admiration. It becomes a way to explore deeper desires, often through pet play and animal roleplay.
While both pet play and animal roleplay involve exploring our animal instincts, they aren’t exactly the same but share some similarities.
What Is The Meaning of Pet Play Kink?
Pet Play and Animal Play Difference
While pet play and animal play (or animal roleplay) are often mentioned together, they focus on different aspects of animal imitation.
Animal play/Animal roleplay fetish typically involves taking on an animal persona for fun, escape, or costume play, such as pretending to be a cat, dog, or other familiar animals. It’s usually done for enjoyment or events like cosplay or Halloween.
Pet play, on the other hand, adds a more structured emotional thing where one person becomes the “pet” and another takes on the role of the “owner”. This interaction often centers around trust, care, and sometimes elements of control, creating a deeper bond between participants. Clear communication, safe words, and setting boundaries are essential to make pet play enjoyable and safe for everyone involved.
Is Pet Play the Same as Furry Kink?
No, pet play kink and furry kink aren’t the same. They can sometimes overlap, but in furry fetish, people personify animal characters with specific traits or personalities, like Bugs Bunny, Sonic the Hedgehog, etc.
How Pet Play Fits Into BDSM?
While animal role play is the blanket term for humans generally playing as animals, pet play takes this one step further by integrating elements of BDSM into animal role play. Pet play explores a power balance between master and pet to create a sense of submission and control.
The first thing that comes to mind at the thought of a pet is a cute animal that is owned and inherently dependent on the owner for sustenance and everything else. It is needless to say that, as humans, we have the inclination to always look after our pets and have them trust us totally.
It is a similar relationship, as pet 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 relationship structure is synonymous with the essence of a dominant and a submissive; only in this case, the submissive acts out the role of a pet animal.
Some pet players enjoy role-playing in the comfort and privacy of their homes, with all safety precautions intact, of course, while others who are more exhibitionistic in their tendencies prefer public showcasing in BDSM scenes and social events.
Why do People Find This Kink Attractive?
There are tons of valid reasons why animal roleplay is a thing, here’s 3 main ones:
A Fantasy World of Puppy Play and Pony Play
Human beings are uniquely different and have individual things that make up their psychology, so while some people have it relatively easy, others have it harder. Being a human all the time can be exhausting, so role-playing as animals may offer the escape that pet players need to sink into the headspace that makes them feel like themselves.
Animals are super easy and simple-minded. Meaning don’t possess ego in the ways that humans do. So whenever someone decide to get into pony play, kitten play, pup play and so on, they are basically getting closer to their most basic and primal desires. All they think about is food, survival, and sex. This may give them a release and ease a lot of pressure off their shoulders until they are ready to face the world as humans again.
Domination and Submission
Another reason is the dominant submissive power play. When people explore pet play, there’s usually a dominant person who acts as an owner or caregiver and another who is a pet and receives all the care and affection that comes with being a pet. There’s usually a rush of affection, adoration, and love on the part of the owner who assumes the position of power and has a duty of care to the pet.
And there is the adorable pet, who releases themself in total submission and obedience to their owner in typical animal character. The owner is responsible for setting rules, giving commands, and providing discipline to the pet. While all the pet has to do is just be and exist. Now, isn’t that a dream?
The Simple Sexiness
Some other people find animal-like behaviors erotic. No, they do not want to screw animals. They just find the appearance of animals sexually attractive, and the idea of their sexual partners looking up (or down, as the case may be) at them in this regard can be very sexy. Think of a kitten play
Getting Started in Pet Play Roles
If you think animal roleplay fetish might be for you, good news is you’re not alone. However, as a newbie, here are some things you need to know to help you ease into it.
1. Pick Your Animal. From Pony Play, Kitten Play, Puppy Play, to Cow Play
First off, every pet is different, and what might work for the goose may not work for the gander. Literally. There is a variety of animals you might choose to embody depending on what appeals to you, so it’s important to know the peculiar needs of each and treat them accordingly. It might be a catastrophe if you treat a dog like you would a pony, for example.
2. Respect Your Partner’s Animal Role
For some pets, role playing as an animal goes much stronger that just playing dress-up. It might be a spiritual exercise. You do not want to undermine that. So, have a talk with your pet and gather a lot of information as to how they want to be treated and what it means for them.
3. Make it Feel Real With Costumes and Accessories
Now, moving on. To really get into pet play, there’s a lot of visuality to it. Get into the gear and the costumes. If your pet is tentative about diving headfirst into it, that’s okay.
You could start with a leash, or make them wear collars, animal headbands, and/or tail butt plugs. Not only are these visually stimulating, but they sometimes also double as sex toys to enhance the sensuality of the moment. How do they say it? That’s just… purr-fect.
4. Don’t Forget to Care for Your Pet
As an owner, you can feed, care for, train, play with, and chastise your pet as much as you want, but always with an undertone of affection. Just like you would with naughty family dog or kitten. You could also incorporate other BDSM to your pony play practices like rope bondage for a change.
5. Make Your Pet Happy with Reward and Praise
Don’t forget to employ the use of rewards and praise, unless your pet has a degradation kink and has stated otherwise. Using rewards, treats, and praise can make your pet develop a sense of dependence and a feeling of being taken care of when they act right.
It doesn’t have to be much, it could be as simple as petting, stroking, and giving them compliments when they have done a good thing. Like fetching a toy you told them to bring, or remaining in a position for a while because you ordered them to. It just really adds to the erotic atmosphere of the moment.
How Do I Actually Enjoy Pet Play?
Good question! As simple as it sounds, enjoying pet play comes down to immersing yourself in the role and creating a safe space that feels right for both you and your partner. But, as in any domination/submission power dynamic, some pets have rebellious streaks.
Human pets, just like animal pets, sometimes get spoiled and starts challenging your authority, especially pets with an inherently rebellious nature like the cat, or fox. In this case, you might need to be stern and put your foot down. I know you love your pet, but sometimes, especially when a pet slips into the pet space, they become too exuberant and may be reluctant to listen to instructions.
Here are some gentle tips to help you re-establish authority.
Time Out. A common control tactic is making the pet go on time out. This may or may not be accompanied by restraints. You could ice them out and ignore them when they start acting up until they become docile and start craving your attention. Some people are actually getting sexually aroused when ignored.
Remind Them of Their Place. You could also lock a pet in its cage and deny them their treat as a means of telling them you do not like their behavior. The pet belongs to you, and you have all the power, which means you have complete authority over when and what they get to eat.
Sexually, you can also edge them until they are at their breaking point and beg you for a release. That tends to work like magic. But please, remember to do all these with the consent of your pet-partner.
You Decide What is Good for Them. You could use verbal warnings, physical penalties, or issue commands to put them in their place. You can also make them perform degrading acts like tail wagging, boot sniffing and licking, peeing in the garden, eating from the floor, etc. It’s your pet, you decide what’s good for them.
However, it is important that the sub and the dom agree on what discipline measures to employ before they slip into space, including a safe word. Some measures can be extremely triggering and cross boundaries. So, whatever discipline measures you choose to employ, always check in with your partner to make sure it’s okay with them. Always keep consent in mind.
How to Keep It Safe and Comfy?
As an owner, there are precautions you should take to make the whole experience worthwhile for all participants involved.
First off, make sure you’re prioritizing the comfort of your pet. In this sense, unless the pet is a human-like pet who can walk on two legs, they would likely be spending a lot of play session on their knees. For this purpose, you may consider investing in padded flooring, large cushions, or knee pads.
Be well informed about your pet’s medical history and body check results, to avoid any unfortunate surprises.
Collars and leashes should fit well. Especially when the pet is on their knees, as putting too much pressure on the throat can affect the trachea. If collars is not your thing, no worries, harnesses could be a great alternative. And if you are looking for more inspiration on harness, don’t forget to check out our article on Harness Fetish.
Talk a lot about what you guys are comfortable with. If you want sexual experience or not, if you’re comfortable with public or private play, if you’re open to group play or not, as well as conversations about physical or mental health issues and allergies. No conversation should be off the table.
Pet play is a very sensitive fetish, and if you are uncomfortable having these vulnerable conversations with your partner, maybe you should reconsider playing with them.
Be vigilant. Double-check toys and treats and ensure they are safe. Check your surroundings and play area for sharp objects or anything else that would be harmful to your pet at any point.
Practice aftercare! This cannot be overemphasized. Again, because of the delicate nature of this fetish, it is pertinent that you check in with your partner (dom and pet alike) and evaluate their physical and mental state after the play to ensure that you are all on the same page.
Most importantly, don’t forget to use safe words should things get too intense or probably go faster than you can handle. Again, if you don’t trust your partner to stop when you want them to stop, you shouldn’t be playing with them in the first place.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, if pony play is something that gives you pleasure, let it be. Animal roleplay and pet play kink are exciting kinks once you understand what they are about and how relaxing they can be. It is important to always be well informed before indulging in it to avoid making mistakes.
Pet play lovers should engage in it without any doubts, as long as all necessary precautions are taken, as it is a sure way to ease off fatigue and other forms of responsibility, work, or life-related stress.
To be honest, easing into animal roleplay fetish and pet play kink can be challenging at first because of the prejudice and societal stigma that come with it. But if you focus on living your best life on your own terms, it can be easy.
There’s nothing weird about you, so go on and explore your wild side with pet play.
What Else is Out There?
Exploring related kinks and fetishes like Fur fetish, Worship kink or Humiliation Kink can also add excitement for those who are looking for a change in their play. It’s easier said than done, I know, but if you’ve gotten this far, you may as well go even further.
Additionally, you can check out articles, videos, and online forums like FetLife, Kinkly, The Cage where you could find other animal roleplay ideas and pet play enthusiasts, discuss different practices and read their experiences first-hand.