Becoming Pup Tripp

I don’t think anyone who knows me doubts the passion with which I approach and represent the pup community. In the years since I finally connected with my own inner pup, it has been one of my primary driving forces in terms of service to and involvement in the leather/kink community as a whole. During the three years when I was collared under Mister J, it was as His pup, and it was the conduit through which my heartfelt service was given. All of it with that same driving passion.

To understand it, and why that passion always burns so strongly, I have to go back to my earliest days in the leather/kink community. It was in that very first year, when I was collared as a slave, that I had my initial encounter with pup play and the Handler/pup dynamic. At Southeast Leather Fest 2002 I met Master Skip and his Alpha Pup Tim. A week later, at Folsom East in NYC, I encountered others. These struck a deep chord within me, one that never quieted once awakened. However, my Sir at the time seemed anti-pup and, therefore, I never explored or spoke up about it.

When that relationship ended in 2003, I soon moved on to join the DC boys of Leather. Here were people with whom I identified as a submissive, and I quickly bonded with them. It was more than friendship, but a brotherhood and a home where I felt safe. Where I felt I belonged and could be proud. It opened doorways into a world where I could feel and be so much a part rather than apart.

But the inner pup was still there. It just didn’t have a way out. Even though one of my club brothers was a pup, my own still stayed curled up deep inside. I see now that it was only because we didn’t have anything geared specifically to pups, and there were too few in the area. I know now there were some attempts to make that happen, but they never came to fruition. And, more to the point, there was still something that held me back.

I travelled a lot during these intervening years, and I encountered others of like heart. Those travels were related more to representing the DCboL or our community, and my focus was primarily there. The inner pup looked up an awful lot, enough for me to feel that energy connection.

A time finally came, though, when we numbered a few more pups among the boys. During the summer of 2007 we had at least four. I felt the connection more strongly than ever, and for the first time I actually got to talk about it. All it needed was one more push.

That came at Mid-Atlantic Leather, January 2008. In the cigar tent with a Sir whom I hold in high esteem and his pup, a boot-licking session and romp brought out my inner pup in full. To this day I still don’t really know what triggered it.  All I know is that I pupped out completely and, 45 minutes later, Sir Jason was bringing me out. And when he asked me how it felt, the very first word that came to mind was: NATURAL. I felt and knew I had found a very deep part of myself. A part that had wanted out for so very long, but I hadn’t known how to reach it. That first experience was so liberating!

I wish I could say I ran with it right away, but I didn’t. As I got further removed from that moment, I became unsure and embarrassed. I was afraid to sow it in front of my club brothers or anyone else. Silly, I know, but it was there.

Then came Olympia 2008. The DC boys hosted their 101 Dalmatians cocktail as part of the weekend festivities. For the very first time I pupped out in front of my club brothers and friends in the community. And I knew right away I had been wrong to hold the pup inside. They were so happy for me and supportive. I recall taking a quiet moment because I felt so happy and overwhelmed.  From then on, there was no closing off the inner pup from the rest of my life or myself. Pup Puddles (my first name) was out to stay.

And, one year after my very first pupping out experience, I was collared by Mister J at MAL 2009 as His pup. Soon thereafter he renamed me Tripp. And, if I was active in the wider community before that, my involvement and passion only grew from that time on. Mister J recognized my drive and passion as equal to his own, and he encouraged me to channel it into doing more as a pup for pups and our emerging segment of the community.

That eventually led to the founding of the Mid-Atlantic Kennel Korps (originally called the DC K9 Korps).

As much as I enjoyed my service to the boys, and as sincere as that service was, it’s my service to and involvement with the pup community that has taken me to new heights. Not just as a founder of a club for pups and handlers, but by being alongside so many who share that same energy that defines us and brings us together.

And that passion now goes into representing and doing my part for the pup community. To do my part so that others can find what I’ve found. To do what I can to show that we’re just as much a part of the communal whole.

Sometimes I look back and wonder why it took so long. But I know it had to happen in its own time, and I wouldn’t change it.