If you enjoy pet play and pleasing your partner for treats and rewards, you may want to explore human pet play.
What Is a Human Pet?
A human pet is a person who sees themselves as a pet and is treated like a pet by their partner. The human pet maintains their human nature mentally while performing the behaviors and actions of an animal pet.
Most often the human pet is a submissive while their partner is the dominant/domme/master/owner/handler in this relationship.
A human pet may take on pet-like characteristics such as eating without their hands or crawling on all floors. Human pets want to please their owner/master and respond to praise and reward similar to animal pets, but human pet play is also different from traditional pet play in kink or BDSM relationships.
Read: BDSM Roles: 33 Dominant and Submissive Roles
Human Pet Play vs Animal Pet Play
In animal pet play, the submissive takes on characteristics of one animal and thus mimics a particular owner and pet relationship. Most popular pet play roles are the puppy, kitten, and pony roles, but any animal role can be explored.
Animal play is one of the most accessible, safe, and fun kinks for couples new to BDSM and kink to explore. Animal lovers are often drawn to this kind of play.
In human pet play, the submissive remains a human in how they look, but they behave as a pet to their partner, the dominant. Similar to animal pets, they will seek to please their owner/handler through behaviors that are expected or encouraged.
There are no hard and fast rules for human pet exploration, only that it feels good or consensually bad for those at play.
Read: Pet Play: All About Animal Roleplay
Ideas for Human Pets and Their Handlers
Communication and Consent Come First
How deep you delve into the role of a human pet and handler is up to you and yours, and it may start very casually. Like all BDSM relationships, especially those that are 24/7, you’ll want to discuss boundaries and hard limits.
Talk about what you or your partner want out of the relationship dynamic. Is it just a fun romp or will there be punishments for “bad” human pet behavior? What is considered bad behavior? Do you want a BDSM contract?
There is so much to explore in human pet play that you’ll want to play and reflect often on what is working and what isn’t for one or both of you.
Costumes are Optional
Gear and accessories for pet play are very important in helping to play a puppy, kitten, or pony. And who doesn’t love to dress up?
As a human pet, you may just wear your day to day clothing, or you may have some type of uniform that you put on when you come home from work or go to your dominant’s house to play. Your human pet outfit may be something elaborate, a costume, or as simple as a collar or ring that signifies your role.
Read: 9 Types of BDSM Collars
Incorporating Humiliation Play
Similar to animal pet play, part of being a human pet may incorporate humiliation and degradation. The owner may seek to humiliate their human pet when they don’t follow rules or tasks that have been outlined in advance. A human pet may be humiliated, in private or public, as part of their punishment.
Read: Humiliation Kink: 18 Examples of Erotic Embarrassment
Forced Human Pet Play (D/s)
Human pet play can be fun and silly, but it can also take on a more serious edge. Forced human pet play can involve being made to feel like a dirty animal or being taught how to behave like an animal, and thus being treated as such. It can include BDSM practices such as impact play, confinement, and bondage.
Forced human pet play will be part of a total power exchange relationship, wherein the human pet submits completely to their dom. There may be less focus on rewards and more on punishment, but within forced human pet play there must always be mutual consent.
Human Pet Leash Training
Collars are used in many BDSM relationships, including handlers with their human pets. Adding a leash is often a part of training a handler will want to engage in.
How much training and what that training entails will vary from one relationship to another, but many handlers will find training to be a very enjoyable aspect of the relationship. A leash is often used to help guide a human pet and maintain physical control. Some owners will start with a short leash, adding length to the leash as their human pet becomes better trained.
Read: BDSM Training: A Guide for Beginners
Human Pet Sleeping Arrangements
Remember, a human pet often takes on the behavior of an animal while still thinking as a human, so one of these behaviors is sleeping where a pet might. They may curl up at the end of the bed or even under the covers.
They may sleep in a crate cage that is used to train puppies. They may have a human-sized basket and cushion for sleeping. Where human pets sleep or sit or lie down will be part of the rules that their owner sets out.
Read: BDSM Cage Play and Bondage Cage Types
Rewards for Good Behavior
Human pets will want to please their owner for the love and rewards they receive in response. Behaviors may include fetching a ball and returning it to the owner, using a litter box to pee in, or drinking and eating out of bowls on the kitchen floor.
Begging can be a huge part of human pet play that both pet and owner will enjoy as part of the dom-sub dynamic. A human pet can hold submissive positions and poses while whimpering, pouting, or saying “please” over and over. Responses to begging can be physical or verbal—pats on the head, a food treat, “good boy” or “good girl.”
Read: 7 Ways to Enjoy Your Begging Kink
Do you engage in human pet play, animal play? How do you get your kink on?
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