The Greeting

Good role identification is difficult for most dogs, especially in the beginning. It is important that the owner immediately clarifies exactly what type of human behavior must be replaced with adequate dog behavior form the beginning of the training. Greeting her owner and proper ways to show affection is just about the first area, you and she will run into.

It is very obvious that dogs do not speak human language – which can be a problem on its own – and do not kiss and hug. Instead, they wiggle their tail, bark and lick.

What the average novice-dog will usually try and do is to replace kissing with licking. Well, you do not want that. As an owner you do not allow your puppy to lick your face. Instead, you must teach her an appropriate way to show her affection, as well as to greet her owner.

It’s also important that the owner clearly defines what is acceptable behavior for exactly what action. Most dog owners will use the following system:

≈ Initial greeting: for example when her owner comes home or when her puppy role starts: licking her owner’s hand(s), foot or feet.

≈ Showing affection: licking her owner’s hand, only once – she should learn not to overdo this.

Like all dogs she should be corrected immediately when overdoing it, or doing things the wrong way. A firm tug on the leash is a very effective correction. And so is method any real dog would do: a quick bite in the neck. The human dog alternative for this is a quick, painful tug on the hair, preferably low in the neck.

Strict and swift correction is paramount, especially in the case of novice dogs. The idea behind it that being in and out of scene (or role) can often be one of the most difficult things to master. While “in scene” (in role) the dog must learn she is now a (the) dog and that there are clear differences with her every day life.

Explicit role play is psychologically difficult and to a certain extent dangerous if no clear lines are being drawn. Hence a fair but firm approach will help her to shift between personalities (which – to some extent – is always the case when it comes to role play). When in dog role she must and has to be a dog – in other words human behavior is of course always allowed, only SHE MUST FORMALLY STEP OUT OF HER ROLE to do so.

The Collar

There is quite a big difference between the symbolic value of the collar in more general BDSM and in dog role play. Whereas the collar in general terms is a symbol of submission, in puppy play the collar is (also) THE symbol of the role itself. Which is why it should be treated differently.

A handy hint: if the dog wears a (symbolic) collar in every day life, it is probably better if you have two: the symbolic one for every day use and a more specific (and practical) one for active role play.

In and out or role

The (role)collar symbolizes the puppy being in role. From the moment it is put on until it is removed again she is a DOG and MUST function within the guidelines for that role (whatever these may be, they are likely to be personally defined). Hence the ritual of putting it on is the physical boundary between role and non-role and vice versa. This helps greatly to separate role identification from every day life and it also prevents a lot of confusion.

For this reason most experienced dog owners will make the role-collaring a special ritual, where the dog must present herself, sit up and – usually non-verbally – beg for the collar. The picture is a very nice example of how to do that. By doing this, extra emphasis is being placed on the fact that she will now be the dog and until further notice should behave as one.

Why is this so important?

Well, for or all animal role goes that it requires a totally different way of thinking and usually a different logic. That is difficult for slaves to master and many – even highly experienced ones – will have problems with that. There are numerous examples of highly experienced, well-trained ponies for example who – in normal life – will not respond to normal, verbal signals, but who WILL respond to pony dressage in such cases. Once the mind has been programmed to the “turn right” signal by the bit (and she has been deliberately trained to ignore any other signal) it is not unlikely she will do the same in normal life, for example in traffic.

The same applies to toilet training (something that is very much a part of dog training). This may sometimes complicate “normal” life and the programming may be a bit of a problem, to put it mildly. Hence the emphasis on training the puppy to understand “in scene” and “out scene”, preferably from day one.

No hands

And there is another habit. Many subs have a tendency to tough the collar with there hands, as soon as it is put on. In dog terms that is a DON’T. Dogs touch their collar (scratch it) when it irritates them and the last thing the collar should do is irritate, neither should she send out this signal. She is not supposed to touch it with her hands (which technically speaking become front paws as soon as the collar is in place), but instead should accept the collar happily and gracefully and leave it there, without touching it. This again may prove to be difficult, since it is so different from “being submissive” and since role-play is only a format, in which this submissiveness is expressed, it may be very difficult to see the differences.

She should however be trained from day one, that the DOG-collar signifies role play and the symbolic collar signifies general submissiveness (and hence not role oriented). In the event she is required to bring the collar and leash as part of the starting ritual, she does so in her mouth (beak) and she is again not to touch either of these items with her hands.

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The above article is a reprint from our information/educational site Kink Culture.
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