Many people have different ideas as to where Pup and Pet Play comes from, and how it has grown into what it has become today. This includes from ancient times with broad sources pointing towards therianthropy, up until the modern popularisation which stems predominantly from the BDSM community.
We highly welcome any further information to expand on each of these sections to try and cover as many bases as possible.
Ancient Times
Taking on the role of an animal persona has been a thing in ancient times with strands of evidence coming from ancient recordings. Many associating this with “therianthropy” but along a similar lines of an animal identity over a human identity. However, some have theorized about this being more around acquiring the mental attributes of an animal rather than the physical details. (Therianthropy on Wikipedia)
Some other evidence comes from ancient rituals and magic transforming fully into animals, but details on these can be scarce.
Other small parts can be found through stories, including many depicting pony play, come from religious texts up until recent times. Sometimes mentioning it as a role of “dressing up” up to acting fully in their animal roles.
Victorians up to Modern Day
During a fair amount of this time, slavery introduces an element of degrading with slaves been referred to at the same level as animals who are mostly seen as lower than humans at the time. This level of putting others into a role of non-human stemming into a lot of what we see today.
Some slaves in colonial America “…names reserved for dogs and horses. Masters sometimes bought neck collars for their slaves much as they did for their pets. They bridled, haltered…and castrated their delinquent slaves as if they were domesticated livestock. The punishment for running away on the plantation of William Byrd II was the ‘bit’.” This has elements of current BDSM level of pet play including collaring and renaming those as they see more fit into their role.
Some circus related stories include that of Fedor Jeftichew who would “when he was upset he would bark and growl” (Fedor Jeftichew on Wikipedia)
Modern Times
Starting in the mid-70s within kink circles, with objectification and other fetishes being explored come with circles exploring in both gay and straight circles. Documented evidence coming from International Mr Leather events, and in the 1992 with Peter Friske and Alan Selby’s “Human Dog Show” with female pups alike.
With the explosion of the internet, things such as Pup and Pet play in general have been much easier to find. Even with various sites coming and going over time, new sites are popping up all of the time allowing more and more people to come and find out about pet play (including you!).
The modern history comes from the BDSM and leather communities with a slave/master relationship. As time went on, some slaves would be degraded into that of an animal, such as a dog. However, many found it to be fun and relieving and for some enjoyed it more of a separate thing.
Tycho from Pupplay.info has some more articles about more modern history of Pup Play in general: