The Gift

Dedicated to all my pupbrothers and pupsisters, wherever you are, and in memory of those who stay with us in spirit. From the loudest, most playful bark to the quietest nuzzle, what we do reaches many, and we really are joined as one. Peace and Joy to you all!

- Pup Tripp, IPC Intl Puppy 2014 -


THE GIFT
         by Pup Tripp

Gather ‘round, ye faithful pups

    Come sit beside the tree
    Now listen close, a tale I’ll spin
    So let your tails wag free

Once upon a time there was

    A pup without a name
    Who yearned for collar, bowl, and leash
    No handler ever came

No howl his ears perked beheld

    Nor other’s playful bark

    Alone he pined the whole year through

    And whimpered in the dark

On silent night, on Eve of Yule

    To sleep and then to dream

    The pup lay down with head on paws

    With naught but Moon’s bright beam

In his dream he looked above

    Upon the Moon’s pale face

    In loneliness he sought to ask

    The Moon to show his place

"Tell me, Moon, oh shining bright

    Why do I howl alone?

    Where’s a hand to hold my leash

    Or collar of my own?"

Silver tears the Moon did cry

    With light She held him near

    And subtle touch to raise his chin

    Her words She spoke so clear

“Listen close, my lovely pup

    With both your ears and heart

    For on the wind the sounds you seek

    Your shadows they will part"

"See and hear, you aren’t alone

    The pack’s already there

    It waits for you with open paws

    It waits for you to share”

Carefully he listened now

    To howls upon the wind

    To playful yips and barks of joy

    And to a voice within

“Go, be free, my precious pup

    Brothers wait, and sisters too

    The rest you seek will come in time

    Just when it’s right for you”

And in his joy, a name he found

    That was his very own

    It spoke to who he was inside

    Within his eyes it shone

Pup, he woke and barked with glee

    The pack, its howl did ring

    Pup, he knew, had come home at last

    His heart could finally sing

The Moon, She smiled with delight

    To see the pup’s tail wag

    With brilliant beams a gift She left

    A shining silver tag.

On the front, by dreams was etched

    His name, and on the back

    “You never have to be alone

    We’re here, One Love One Pack”

 

Twas a Pup Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the pound
All the puppies were “sleeping,” except for one hound
Stockings were hung for each handler and pup
Hoping that Santy Paws soon might show up
The handlers were bundled in bed for the night
Having drunk all the red and half of the white
That mischievous mutt, though not very agile
Arose from his bed to wander awhile
On kneepads and mitts to not make a sound
He slipped out of the kennel to just poke around
To the top of the stairs he did quietly slip
Then all the way down (with nary a trip!)
Into the kitchen he quietly crept
Looking for treats while everyone slept
When in by the tree there came a quick noise
That sounded suspiciously like new squeaky toys
With tail all a-waggin’, he ran to the cause
In hopes of a glimpse of Santy Paws
And there by the fireplace, in chaps and high boots
With bulldog and chest hair all covered in soot
Was Santy Paws setting down new puppy dishes
And harness and leashes to fill puppy wishes
For the handlers were gloves and jocks made of leather
For both there were singlets, good for all weather
He kept to his work, ignoring the mutt
Whistling and shaking his nice furry butt
And when he was done, he chuckled with glee
Then glanced at the pup hiding there by the tree
“You naughty pup,” he laughed as he said
“You should be getting back to your bed!”
With a scratch to the ear, he turned with a whirl
Distracting the pup by calling out “Squirrel!”
The pup looked around and when he turned back
Santy Paws had just vanished, along with his sack
But still to be heard, a voice from the night
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

The Journey Doesn't End Here

As we begin the long drive back home to DC, it strikes me that the journey that began a year ago also goes forward from where it began. That so many new challenges and opportunities lie still before me, not behind. The friendships I've made, the ties of brotherhood forged with our community pack, and all the things learned still go with me.

I do have ideas about where to focus that seemingly boundless energy. As the 2014 titleholder, I got to see firsthand those things that stir my creative juices and resonate with my passions. I got to hear my packbrothers and sisters and learn what their experiences and visions are. I never have been one to rest on my laurels, but rather always looking for the next thing I can do or help with.

So, now, going forward, I feel it's important to support an initiative whose importance can never be understated. That, of course, is Project Touch  Base, started by my little brother Pup Figaro and my brother pup, Havok. I spoke about it during the Florida Puppy contest about this, and the reaction was overwhelmingly in support of it. This project needs our support - our brothers and sisters need us.

At the same time, I want to resurrect a project I started under MAKK but unfortunately let slide. That is the Pupping Out Project. Each one of us in this pack, pup or handler, has a story to tell. And those stories can be the door that brings another home to us. I heard many of your stories in my travels, and they moved me. Imagine the power that has for the pup or handler looking to discover themselves and a place to call home. The Pupping Out Project is a place to tell these stories, share them with others, and bring us closer together as one pack.

And, above all, spend more time with my family, both my immediate leather family and my packmates who have time and again shown me how lucky I am.

So, as one chapter ends, I'm already looking to the next... And maybe somewhere in it gravity and I will learn to peacefully coexist.

One Year Later...

Tomorrow morning I’ll be starting the long drive down to Tampa/St. Pete. It was one year ago that I looked down that same stretch of road, setting out for International Puppy 2014. I didn’t know then I’d be coming back along that highway with the title. I didn’t know that it was to be the start of one hell of a journey, one that would turn out to be the journey of a lifetime. And now, 31,000 miles and one year later, I’m going back to where it started. And even though I stepped-aside back in July, this feels like a closing of an incredible chapter in my life.

I know I’m not the same pup I was one year ago. So many awesome things came my way, and I was fortunate and blessed to be able to meet so many incredible people. Each and every one of them left an imprint in my life, in my understanding and appreciation of our community pack. They all left me with an increasingly greater and deeper appreciation of just how strong and warm our pack really is. To be one of many who share as much as we all do, well… it’s nothing short of amazing, and I consider myself lucky to be a part of it all.

On this, the one year mark, I again thank you all for everything you gave me. I can only hope I was able to return or pay it forward enough.

-WuzzyPup Tripp-

PATTERNS IN THE MIST

The darknest night will always fade

into the dawn sublime

Yet first is born a scene unmarred

a moment freed from time

The flow of time just holds its breath

and magic can exist

Captured in surreal shades of grey

in patterns in the mist

The world lies cloaked in mist pristine

by hand of men unstained

Where silence reigns in peace serene

with spirit's calm regained

What once seemed real takes shifting form

what's real defined anew

By edges blurred and shapes unclear

and greys of varied hue

Each tree an island in the mist

so strong and yet so frail

A steadfast, surreal sentinel

on watch before the veil

What secrets lie beyond the veil

unseen by human eyes?

What mysteries undreamt yet dwell?

What voice unheard still cries?

For is the mist before our eyes

or is it in the mind?

Grey shields we use to hide ourselves

from truths to which we're blind

Each shape within the mists reflect

the truths within the soul

Defining faces of ourselves

at once both part and whole

Within the mists we feel as one

Though never dwell alone

For always ready, always there

the Light Within is shone

What once was grey shines now as white

through magic with a twist

And clarity and peace entwine

in patterns in the mist

I Walk Alone in the Night

Preface: I wrote this back in December 1990, at a time when I was going through one of the darkest periods I've ever known. From time to time through the years since, I've come back to it, not to relive the past, but to remember that deep painful struggle and the perspective it gives to where I am at now. Because, as much as I wanted to give up, something got me through it. That something was one quiet voice that cared enough to listen...

I WALK ALONE IN THE NIGHT

I walk alone in the night

Lost in darkness within and without

Searching for a glimmer of light

To show me that I'm not alone

That my dreams are more than just dreams

I walk alone in the night

Untouched by joy or pain

I ache for the sunlight of companionship

But my tears give me only rain

The echo of my heart, thunder

I walk alone in the night

No stranger to the shadows of despair

For in my lonely world are others

Others like me, beyond my reach

All of us alone in the dark

I walk alone in the night

Until, at last, I see a hand

Reaching for mine, promising the dawn

Boldly I take it, afraid to let go

And step back into the sunlight

A Question of Why...

Why is it there are still people who still seem to have nothing but disrespect, if not outright hate and loathing, for the pup community? And if not hostility, then at the very least resistance to seeing or accepting us as we are.

There, I said I flat out. But don’t answer those questions right away. It’s too easy to give the quick answer, to toss out the retreads of old arguments and feel they address the question. They don’t. Because, when I say retreads, I mean that I’ve heard them used before, not just to castigate and dismiss the pup and handler community, but other segments of the broader kink community as well.

To be honest and completely frank, I will freely acknowledge that the pup community is no more a social utopia than any other out there. We have our problems and challenges. We’re just as human as everyone else, and with that comes all the variations, diversity, and shortcomings that one can expect. No, we don’t necessarily all like each other. We have our disagreements and conflicts. Personalities sometimes outright clash. And, as appealing as the fantasy of a 24/7 pup life might seem, the boons and the banes of the everyday world are just as much present with us as with anyone else.

Nor do I, at a personal level, hold myself to be some shining example of all that’s good and none of the bad that goes with being a pup. I’m just as human as the next person. I make mistakes; my decisions and choices haven’t always borne the best of results. More than once I’ve realized I could have handled something better than I did. There are those that have rubbed me the wrong way, and I’d be surprised if the converse wasn’t also true. I sure as heck don’t claim to know everything or be an expert on any subject.

And, yes, when it comes to our communal pup pack, I confess myself to be biased, my views subjective. My attachments to and involvement with it run too deep and carry too much meaning for it to be otherwise.I have great affection for my pupbrothers and sisters, and I don't hide that.

But when I come at this question and those that follow once it’s in the open, it’s with the experience gained from having feet firmly in both the pup and leather communities. Yes, there are people with far greater experience in either than I have. However, many of these men and women are my role models, some have been or are mentors, and all are people from whom I have learned. And one of the universal things I’ve learned from these role models is that this community, like any other, is at its best when it reinforces the importance of allowing the individual to explore his or her own path for growth and development. It's at its best when the pulse of brotherhood reaches all parts with equal strength.

So, again, why the negativity toward pups and the pup and handler community? Why are we not afforded the opportunity borne of this concept of growth, a concept which many of the same naysayers claim to espouse? Why are we denied the bonds of wider brotherhood, when those bonds are a foundation upon which the broader leather and kink communities have thrived?

Is it because we, as a community within the greater whole, are fairly new? Granted, the contemporary pup community pack is less than a decade old. Yet, in that relatively short span of time, this pack has grown and flourished at a remarkable rate. We’ve forged a brotherhood built on common values and interests we share. We’ve seen a considerable number of pup and handler groups springing up all over, not just in the U.S., but worldwide. In many ways, the pup community is testimony to what can be accomplished in the age of social media.

But if our newness is a cause for negativity and hostility, then I confess myself stumped. We’ve done nothing that other segments of the broader community haven’t also done. The leatherboys followed a comparable course during their emergence fifteen or so years ago, and that is but one example. And there was resistance to that emergence in its earlier days. Other groups within the community have experienced similar paths – and similar hurdles.

What is it that gives rise to this resistance to change and evolution? What is it that slams shut the gates to the community in the faces of those trying to find a place within – and when there’s plenty of room in the neighborhood for all. Leather and kink were never intended to be some kind of cultural Home Owner’s Association!

How much of this comes from some ingrained compulsion to defend traditional values and practices from change rather than a willingness to balance tradition with change? Is it a blinded and fettered drive to preserve what was and maintain what is at the expense of what can be? Or is it a belief that because one individual’s approach to kink is right, any others must be wrong?

I’m a big supporter of tradition and an advocate of the concept. It provides a sense of historical perspective to our community, a kind of continuum mapping where we are and how we got there. Tradition can be the roots from which future growth can spring and the fruit of new ideas blossom. It’s the fuel in the torch one generation passes to the next. It’s the catalyst that harnesses the power of change to propel itself forward, renewed and relevant.

But, within the leather and kink community, traditions are not rules. They’re a framework of values to be passed on, with the expectation that the future generations will own them in their own way. Where personal growth and development are considered key, tradition should not be the roadblock on their highway. Change is inevitable. It comes with the passage of time and the influx of new ideas. To avoid obsolescence and remain vital, traditional values and practices must adapt.

The leather and kink community today is not what it was twenty, thirty, or forty years ago. Yes, there are concepts and values that have been passed along, but they have all changed and evolved along the way. They will continue to do so as they go into the future. To claim or pretend otherwise is something of a disregard for what’s come before and what is yet to come.

It cannot be denied that the contemporary pup and handler has adapted existing traditions to its own emerging identity. But this isn’t some conscious or communal effort to disregard all that’s come before us, to thumb our collective noses at any structures that already exist. It’s taking concepts that have survived and evolved over the passing years and owning them in such a way that meets our community needs and drives. It’s not to disrespect anything that’s out there, but to pay our respects while forging our self-identity. It’s to show that the ideals and values of the past can be vital and relevant enough to be accepted by the next generation.

Of course, to accept that the pup community is preserving past tenets, values and practices within its own contexts is to shoot the first hole in the next argument: pups and pup play are just a passing trend. Now, I will not dispute that there are those among us who are here because being a pup is the “in” thing right now. However, I will completely and utterly reject any statement that dismisses pups as a whole.

Pups are not a new addition to the demographics of the kink community. Nor is puppy play a new fetish. True, what we consider pup play today is not what it was back 20 – 30 year ago. Back then, it was primarily a punishment or humiliation. Now it’s a wide array of personal expression. Socially, we’re organizing into groups and clubs that are set up to meet the needs and interests of our part of the community. A true brotherhood has been formed, one of the closest I've ever experienced much less been part of. That we have pulled together as a pack as tightly as we have in the face of loss and adversity completely renders any arguments about us being trendy irrelevant and without merit.

So if it’s not a trend, and it’s not about tradition, then what’s the logical basis for the negativity aimed at the pup community?

Is it our relationships? This should be a unifying point, not a divisive one. Handler/pup relationships are just as real Sir/boy or Daddy/boy or other relationships that are formed around the D/s dynamic (that isn’t to say all handler/pup relationships are considered D/s relationships by those in them, only that they exist). And, like any relationship, each is distinct.

I’m not going to venture into specific statements and misconceptions I’ve encountered, either directly or indirectly, regarding handler/pup relationships. Many of us have heard them. Suffice it to say that my personal belief is that if the relationship is safe and nurturing, if those within it are content and happy with what they have and with one another, then it’s up to those same people to define what works for them. The only limit to our relationships is our imaginations!

Could it be that we, as a community, are being judged by the actions of a handful? Again, there’s no arguing that there are people who have used being a “pup” as an excuse to act out and cross lines of acceptable behavior. But I have to ask this. Would the actions of one or two boys be considered a reflection on or definition of leatherboys as a whole? Leatherwomen? Bears? Any other segment of the community? No, they wouldn’t.

So why do that to us pups? There are plenty of us out there setting the positive example, so to claim we aren’t visible is without merit. And not only are we setting that example, but we, as a community, are trying to police our own as well, to reinforce such basics as respect for personal space. Why wouldn’t we? We have the same concerns.

So maybe it comes down to the last point: respect? Is there some underlying thought that keeps relegating us to being the black sheep of the leather and kink community? Is it that a self-perpetuating cycle has been set in motion where people want respect from the pup community which itself has felt disrespected? Or is it just a refusal to respect anything that’s too different coupled with an unwillingness to have even one conversation that could change that and make all the difference? Is it something else altogether?

There is no pup revolution, as some would have it. We aren’t out to take the kink world by storm and redefine everything about it. As I said once before, we aren’t looking to upset the banquet table, we just want a place to put our bowls down and eat along with everyone else. In the end, we’re all part of one big community. And if we want to be seen as such by those on the outside, we have to be one on the inside. A community divided is no community at all.

The only change that needs to happen – and the sooner the better – is to get past this divisive belittling and misconceived judgmentalism. Let’s talk TO one another, not just AT or ABOUT one another. It’s the only way we’ll ever learn what we need to know about each other. And learning requires that we open ourselves to new ideas and concepts; that we step outside our comfort zone.  Change requires that we dare to think differently from before and take risks.

And, sometimes, that’s the scariest kind of edge play we can experience!

Let me close this with a challenge. Take the time to learn who and what we are. Take the chance of getting past a surface appearance and finding the real substance of the people in this great big pack. Don't fall into preconceptions and stereotyping.

Let's all get beyond all these things that are holding us back. Let's take the "ad" out of adversity, celebrate what's left, and put the "unity" back in community.

Step Aside Speech, 7/20/2104

YouTube Video of my step Aside speech

One Pack!

I confess myself disappointed by a recent post on Secrets that surfaced. A post that comes in the wake of an outstanding IPC 2015 weekend. One that is blatantly hostile toward one of the contestants. It saddens me that so dark a cloud has eclipsed the brightness of a weekend that drew our pack together. A cloud that dims the our future because of the ugly shadow it casts.

One of the messages I strived to champion is just how strong and vital our pack is. I've promoted it before my title year, determinedly-so during my time as International Puppy, and I will continue in that same vein. During my step-aside, I said that, as a pack, we have to take care of our own.

Those weren't meant to be just empty words. I have seen so much that reassures me that so many of us share that same belief. And I have seen enough to know it's important that we rally behind it. We, as a pack, have great reason to take pride in ourselves and what we've accomplished so far, together and for each other.

We hear often that we want to be seen and respected for who and what we are as pups and as a pack. To gain that respect from the outside, we have to show respect for each other within as well. A pack is only as strong as everyone within it. To be seen as strong, we have to be strong.

No, we won't necessarily like one another. We're pups, but we're human - and as humans we will have differences. But those differences do not have to preclude treating each other with a modicum of respect.

Former titleholder or not, I am proud to call the pups in this pack my brothers and sisters. I am proud of how we, as a pack, have time and again come together to support each other in times of need and share in times of happiness. I'm proud because that is the face we're being seen with.

Let's not lose that. Let's not lose those very things that bind us together!

One pack! One Love!

Wrapping up IPC 2015 Weekend... and Looking Ahead

Just a quick note. This wasn't my step-aside. I'll be posting a video recording of that very soon.

*********************

Barks and Howls on a for a great and successful International Puppy 2015 Contest weekend!

First, I have to give two tails up to all four of this year’s contestants (Pup Frogger, Pup Figaro, Pup Havok, and Pup Wolf). Four excellent contenders for the title who had an amazing energy together. I can tell your class was rockin’ it! You are all winners, nothing less!

Again, congratulations, howls and wags to my new little brother, Pup Figaro, the new International Puppy 2015. A truly incredible pup with so much energy and, for lack of an appropriate term, pupsonality. To see this pup in action is to understand why he actually once kinda intimidated me. That part, though, has long since passed. What remains is the important point that Figaro is a pup I’ve long admired for what he brings to and does for his community. I am honored and privileged to be his title brother.

Now he will be bringing that same energy and drive into his new adventure as IPC’s International Puppy 2015. I have no doubts he will take this title and all it represents forward to new and exciting places. And I know that our pup community pack will welcome, support, and encourage him in all he does just as they did me.

I’m looking forward to working alongside Pup Figaro in the coming months to continue building and promoting our pup community.

Of course, the beginning of his new journey is also brings with it the close of a chapter in mine. Yep, I’m a wuzzie now! The last eight months just flew by, but they were eight months filled with fun times, opportunities to see more of our great pack, and to meet more of the people in it. It was a time of exchanging ideas and experiences toward mutual learning and understanding. A time of touching lives and having mine touched in a way I never thought possible.

These past eight months were a chance to get a message out to the broader leather and fetish community. A message that we are a part of that broader community, that we want to be seen, understood, and respected for what we really are and not by misconceptions and misunderstandings. Every conversation I had was an educational opportunity, and if I opened even one mind to a better understanding of pups, our community pack, or our play, then I call that a success.

These past eight months were a time of getting to know and connect with so many pups as well handlers and others in our community. So many with such an amazing variety of experiences and backgrounds. It truly is phenomenal and humbling to be part of it all. What stands out most, though, are the connections and conversations with those just beginning to explore their inner pup and the pack we’ve built. To have this opportunity to be there for them, to answer questions wasn’t just incredible, but a reminder of my own beginnings.

Yes, all the events I made it too were great fun. But what I will carry forward even more from my time as International Puppy 2014 will be the friendship s and personal connections I made along the way. In the end, this has been and will always be first and foremost about the people - the pups and handlers and everyone who make this pawsome community pack what it is.

I did have two goals set for myself during my title year; ones I knew couldn’t be fully recognized in just eight months. One was to keep doing my part to building up our community pack so that pups everywhere have a place to belong and something to be proud of being part of. The other was to build bridges to the broader leather & fetish community, to break through some of the existing misconceptions and misunderstandings.

I think I achieved some measure of success in those areas, but I also know that we aren’t fully there yet. I will leave it to others to decide just how far I got. Just as I will leave it to others to determine how well I represented our community pack. I can only assure you that I gave it nothing less than my full best, and I tried never taking anything with it for granted.

And now the next chapter of my journey begins. I promise that I won’t fade away now that my title year has drawn to a close. The passion, the dedication – event the love – I have for our community pack is too strong for me to just stop. My own inner pup is too deeply connected to his pup brothers and sisters. There are still things I hope to accomplish. More importantly, there is still so much for me to learn.

So this isn’t really farewell. This is just a door to the next part of the journey. This is still an exciting time for the pup community pack. A time for all of us to work together to meet the challenges that lie ahead and to shape our future into what we want it to be. And there is no way I can be sad when I have so many pup brothers and sister to be with as we get there!

ARUFF!

Winding Down as International Puppy 2014

In just a little more than three days, IPC will be anointing the new International Puppy 2015!

And, as I get ready to head out for the fun, the festivities, and the controlled mayhem that almost inevitably results when there’s a large number of pups in one place, I just want to take a moment to say thank you to everyone for the incredible support you’ve all shown me during my time as International Puppy.

It’s been an amazing ride since last November, filled with great people, lots of fun, and plenty of great memories. But it’s also been a reminder of just how great our pup community really is, and to see it all happening on the wider scale… well, it makes me even more happy and proud to be part of it all.

One question I'm getting more as IPC 2015 gets closer is if it bothers me that I've only had 8 months as the titleholder. In truth, not at all. For on thing, I've packed a lot into those 8 months. But also, there will be more for me after this weekend (the fall schedule is already lined up). And I have some idea of what i want to do in the future as well.

Most of all, this is about all of us, and I'm just one small part of it all. And I'm looking forward to having a new brother or sister!

I will be writing a more in-depth reflection of my adventures here in the coming days. But I wanted to go into IPC 2015 weekend by first saying thank you to everyone in this great pack of ours! Y'all are PAWSOME, and I can only hope you believe I represented you all well.

In Puppyhood and Pride,

Pup Tripp
IPC International Puppy 2014