The pet play lifestyle is full of so many voices that make it unique and vibrant. To showcase this, every month we will be shining the spotlight on a particular human animal or Handler in our community. Let's hear what makes every pet player special! This month, we're featuring the self-proclaimed "loudest husky in the room." Crowned LA Pup 2018, he is a trailblazer in the Los Angeles leather kink community, woofing love and welcome into the hearts of human pets everywhere. Introducing...
PUP RUSH!
Please introduce yourself, your pronouns, and how you identify in pet play.
I am Pup Rush - he/him or just yell "damn it!" ( I'll know you're talking to me) I am a Siberian Husky.
How did you first get into pet play and discover your headspace/s?
I hate to admit it, but I found pet play on Tumblr. I really got to explore it with my former Mistress - she balanced a treat on my nose and after that, I had to dive in head first.
What are some of your favorite pet play activities?
I love dog show things and being the demonstration puppy; if there's a place that I can interact with people have people interact with me, I'm totally doing it. Also, I really like it when my handler shibaris [uses a rope tie to fasten] a plastic red toboggan to me and lets me run around the house.
(How fun!)
We loved seeing you represent the puppy play community as LA Pup 2018. What has winning that title meant to you, then and now?
When I first won LA Pup, it meant that I got to leave my mark in leather history. Not only that, I got to have our community say someone who looks like me is welcome and they wanted someone who looks like me to represent them. Now I see it as a very large milestone in a very long journey that I am currently on. Winning LA Pup and representing my community was fantastic; having an LA patch, which I honestly believe is one of the most special things that you can get in the world, on my back was amazing and now I get to watch that family grow and expand and invite more people in and say that you, too, are a part of us.
How do you hope to see the pup and pet play communities grow and improve in the coming years?
I want to see more diversity. I want to see even more people represented, and I want to see more pets represented because LA isn't just full of puppies - it has ponies and a triceratops and dragons and foxes...and yes even cats (blarg). I want to see all of us represented; when I see a poster for one of our events, I want to see all of us represented. When we come together to raise up a new title holder, I want all of us to come together. I always say we have an open play event because all the love and kindness and understanding that I have found in our family is invaluable, and I want us to share that as much as we can.
What advice do you have for pet players looking for their place in the community?
Show up and show out is the best advice I can give. We want you to come in and eat at our bowl, drink in our dish. You're a part of the family already, you march under our banner and we welcome you, we just need to know where you are. So show up, show out, and play with us. One of the unique things I have found about the pet family is that you're already loved, you're already welcome, we already want you - you just need to come inside through the pet door! (Which we leave open)
What do you love most about pet play?
The thing I love about our pet family the most is that I've been to events where the shyest person in the room gets taken by the hand and introduced to everyone. I love that it doesn't matter if you're a puppy, a kitty, a dragon, whatever - you're shown that you have a place in our family and that we want you to be there and it's not just we want you to be there from a passive place, it's very active. We don't treat family as just a noun, we treat family as a verb. We treat kindness, love, and understanding all as active verbs every time we meet. It's really a family reunion when we get together, the love is so powerful sometimes no matter where you are in the room you feel like you're being wrapped in a giant blanket.
To keep up with Pup Rush and the love he exudes for community, follow him on Twitter @_puprush!
