#mr puppy uk
Sorry this took a while to put paws to keyboard, but when you read on, you will see why I found it hard to write … … … Anyway … … … :
The weekend of the 18th and 19th February saw the Mr Puppy Europe Competition held at Darklands, as part of LeatherPride.be; unlike last year where I was competing at the competition (whilst being filmed!), this time I was helping with some of the organisation. Additionally, I had also volunteered to help at a couple of other things along the way for the organisers of leatherpride, Camp K9 and the X-Awards!!!.
We set off from home, to fly out from Luton Airport to Amsterdam, (where we were planning a break at the end of the event) and then jumped on the train to Antwerp. This set the tone of the weekend where I travelled from the Airport Car Park with my blue neoprene dog collar on. The flight there was generally uneventful, and we arrived at our hotel in good time.
At this point, I got changed in to my puppy outfit, repacked the bag slightly and we headed off down to Darklands for the remaining aspects of the Friday, and the opening VIP drinks reception. This gave us the opportunity to see the layout of the venue, catch up with those we know and meet up with various friends. The drinks reception was quite nice, and after it finished, we headed off for food to the Italian we found last year, still in the Zentai (although with clothes over the top) and then retired back to bed for the night.
The Saturday saw Day 1 of Mr Puppy Europe, and also the first of my various other activities I was helping with. As part of the opening introduction on the Main Stage, the Mr Puppy EU Host RipperMoff was doing a sketch where I was involved and had to act with him as a puppy on stage – it was the spoof “Barbera Woodhouse” ‘Sit!’ sketch.
This was great fun *wags* and then it was on to helping the 5 contestants – Pup Bentley: Mr Puppy NL,Pup Farex: Mr Puppy CH,Pup Makke,Pup Barka&Pup Piglet: Mr Puppy UK(orPup Piglets Blog) and making sure they were OK having been through it myself last year.
On my return to Camp K9 it was time to relax for a bit with a chance to pay in the wonderful Ball Pit.
Then it was on to helping out with the Mr Puppy EU competition again … this time I was helping with the obstacle course as a “safety pup” and also as a bit of a distraction. I was like being a House Robot from the Robot Wars TV series – but in this sense the “House Puppy”… sitting in wait and then pouncing at the end.
My final bit of activity on the Saturday was to be involved in charity wrestling matches of “Pup v Superhero” wrestling matches – with two pups and two superheroes. I’m pleased to report that not only did I win all 5 of my rounds, but the other pup also won all 5 of his – so if you’re ever in trouble you need to call a pup not a superhero! *wags* This event also saw the debut of a new outfit for Spot – a twitter contact has turned one of my spare Dalmatian print zentai in to 2 Dalmatian print thongs – meaning that I can now be a puppy in even less clothes ;) !
The evening saw us going to the same restaurant as the night before, although this time I’d changed back into normal clothes, having been in the thong rather than the Zentai before hand. However, on the wander back from the restaurant we must have taken a wrong turning somewhere and we ended up wandering around the Red Light District of Antwerp which was an interesting experience!
Sunday saw the main part of Mr Puppy EU, with the Interviews and Stage Presentations. Again, RipperMoff had asked me to help with this part and so I came to be rehearsing on stage while also helping with making sure that some of the contestants got to their interviews.
As the final rehearsals were completed, and it approached time to go on stage, the scene was set. Jeroen, the overall MC for the Darklands event led me on to the stage, and I went and sat like a good puppy in the corner.
He introduced Ripper, and he then left the stage … off we went in to a Cruella De Ville sketch.
RipperMoff did a short ‘phone call’ – wanting the “puppies to be kidnapped tonight”
and then Ripper left the stage for a quick change into a spotty dress. This pup then gets cat-napped by KittyRony to the theme tune of Mission Impossible
(I did well … I got to the safety railings at the front of the stage before my lead was clipped onto my back) and I was dragged off stage to be turned in to a fur coat :( … BTW: From what the pups backstage said “it was quite funny to watch Ripper do a quick change to the theme tune of mission impossible” …
Anyway, RipperMoff re-enters on stage to do a song from 101 Dalmatians in the spotty dress …
meanwhile I remove everything except my hood, collar, paws and knee pads.
At the end of the scene, I was lead back on by ‘Cruella’ to prove that no pups were harmed in the making of the dress … and at this point I re-enter stage with nothing on except my puppy hood, collar, paw and knee pads – I had nothing else on! Much to everyone’s enjoyment – wolf whistles and a round of applause :) *wags*
This was fine, but due to the quick changeovers between this and the next section for RipperMoff, I was left backstage in just the hood and paws (completely nude otherwise) for a few minutes before I could be allowed to change!
I was then there to offer comforting words to the pups that had to go on stage for their acts – a nervous experience as I know only too well!
The afternoon of the Sunday event also saw me presiding over a film screening of the C4 Documentary as the first Mr Puppy UK Title Holder, and the main feature of the documentary, with a Q&A session afterwards. I was also involved at this point with being a pup on-stage for helping present one of the X-Awards. After this I was then backstage to support pups before they went on stage for the results. This was probably the hardest part of the weekend for me mentally, due to my experience last year; that and by the time everyone was either onstage or out front taking photos for the official twitter feed I was all alone :( I was quiet, but OK until the point at which the results were going to be announced, at his moment I had to wander off to give my head a chance to clear (pup hoods do well at hiding tears! :( ) – last year for me was hard in a number of ways: I still have a deep sadness I didn’t succeed for the UK, I feel I let the team down for not being the 2016 title holder for Europe, I had a very awkward experience at the competition last year – and so in all, I just had to wander off to clear my mind from these sad thoughts…. [as a serious point to those that took part this year, I wasn’t in the right place in my mind to listen to the results – sorry]. It was while I was away I met someone that I have known domestically for a number of years! Talk about shock… but it also helped me come back to the happy side of pup life and such like – so in many ways it was bizarre, but a blessing to meet this friend :) … I headed back to Camp K9 in happy spirits to give all the contestants a congratulations and hugs etc … They all did well – I’ve been there and it’s not an easy place to be – you are constantly on the go, with no time to relax, you’re there impressing the judges, being interviewed and just being the best you can be … so in my eyes, everyone deserves a medal for taking part, it takes courage!! FYI, Piglet (UK) came third, Bentley (NL) came 2nd and Farax (BE) was crowned the title holder for 2017.
As the end of the event wound down, the group of us from the Europe Competition went out on mass to the same Pizza Restaurant
– we had mentioned the night before to the waiters that we would be back – but I don’t think they were expecting the party of 2 to turn in to a party of 18 overnight! A fantastic meal was had by all – with me still in my pup gear, many others still displaying tails clipped on belts etc. and the majority, if not all, of the customers being from Darklands! “Cheers!!!” to all those that organised or took part in this years competition, and if any one (pups included) want support from me, then just *bark* at me and I will do what I can to help *wags*
After the meal we all went our separate ways, and said our congratulations and goodbyes … gave hugs to all, and then we wandered back to the hotel for a good nights sleep before setting off on the second part of our adventure.
The Monday saw us returning to Antwerp train station to depart for Amsterdam – but I wanted to travel as a pup, so bags packed, me in pup-gear, we set off (though I did keep the hood and paws in the bag, and only got them out for an odd photo or 2 on the journey). We ran in to RipperMoff at the train station before departing but other than that we enjoyed a nice train journey to Amsterdam, with me constantly as puppy. This did gather a few interesting looks from people on the way but I had fantastic fun doing it!
Amsterdam & our short holiday there is a separate blog post to follow :D
Oh, and if you want to, you can read Pup Piglets interview with me before the Europe Competition on his blog
Also here is a link to Piglets account of the Mr Puppy Europe Competition
*wags*
Mr Puppy Europe – 2017 Sorry this took a while to put paws to keyboard, but when you read on, you will see why I found it hard to write …
On the weekend of the 21st November, the first ever Mr Puppy UK event was held at the Pup Social in Birmingham. I was a late entrant to the competition though, as my ability to attend was looking doubtful until almost the last moment.
After an uneventful journey there, I arrived at the venue, and started to get nervous about entering, so made the decision to have a drink and calm down and think about it… so I changed in to my outfit, had a drink and thought about it while saying hello to the pups around that I know and generally chatting.
I eventually made the decision that I should enter as I’d only have been annoyed at myself if I hadn’t, so duly did the necessary paperwork and now I had become a contestant in the competition. *gulp*
I had to think of a party piece / stage type of performance to use later in the event, if I was to get that far through the competition… so while chatting, and relaxing, and talking to my owner I made a nervous decision on what to do.
We got called through and, just before the rest of all the pups and handles came through, the pups that had entered decided as a bit of fun to build a pup-pyramid:
The competition got underway; information about the event and introduction of the judges complete, then 7 participants were introduced to the rest of the pups and handlers that had come along to watch. I was introduced as pup number 6 ‘ZentaiSpot’… the number was so people could vote for me for the “Puppy Congeniality” competition (a side competition to the main event).
After being introduced, I realised I still had my badge on from Sexpo which was the weekend before, where I had been there with E-Stim Systems as their Puppy, and had 3 days of demo-ing their equipment. I thought about taking it off, but then I decided “no, that’s me, I am the E-Stim Systems puppy” so I left it on my harness.
The first challenge was to be an agility course. The rules and the course were explained – ‘be yourself as a pup and do the course, it’s not Crufts’, ‘first you have to weave through the cone slalom, then get the tennis ball home in the basket, then through the hoop followed by the `Canyon of Temptation` (or the home straight had loads of puppy treats on either side to guide you home)’… and then we were all sent out the room – we weren’t allowed to see what the other pups did!
5 Pups later it came to my turn!!! Whilst I was being introduced I had found that I was leaning on one of the hosts having head scritches starting to doze off like pups do … Then it was “3… 2… 1… GO!”. I was a bit naughty and pinched a Flapjack from the end of the course and a chew toy before setting off to weave in and out of the slalom (still munching the flapjack WITH a chew toy in my mouth!), and it took me slightly longer to get the ball in the hole as I managed to catch it with my side claw :( and so the ball completely missed the basket. A kind on-looker rolled the ball back to me and I tried again with success. Then through the hoop, which I just bounded through without thinking (since if pups realise what they have to do, then they seem to bail out and go round the obstacle) … then onto the ‘canyon of temptation’ … so a few more biscuits later I cross the finish line.
There was now a chance to relax before the next round – interviews, in private, with the judges!!!!! I haven’t done an interview in more than 10 years, so was a bit nervous by this point. Contestant 5 couldn’t be found, so my interview got moved forward early, so I had even less time to think before the interview! By the time I came out I was convinced I’d done really badly at this, as the questions weren’t easy!
Again, there was more time to relax and have a chance to pup out with everyone, before we were whittled down from 7 to 5.
This was quite scary in it’s way, as it was done in a fashion very much like TV shows – you’re called forward, then with a long delay before being told if you’re safe or not. This was a bit of a blur, as I couldn’t say if I was called forward as the 4th pup top be decided on, but I think I was! So I was called forward, I stepped forward, I was then told to step forward again, then back then forward a small bit … and then I was told to extend my right leg. After a bit of a pause, I did (as I sometimes struggle with Right and Left due to my theatre work as it’s all backwards in the theatre industry) and after another long pause I was told I was safe… I was through to the last round. By the end of this elimination round, only 5 of us were left, and my commiserations have to go to Pup Rocket and Wolfie who were eliminated at this point.
Again, there was another break and then we were on to the final round – the talent show. One of the hosts came back into the room to the backing track of ‘Cruella-de-ville’ … me being a Dalmatian started to bark like crazy as Dalmatians don’t like this character! Though I let my guard down and wandered out to have ear scritches.
… After a quick intro about this part of the competition it was our turn. First up was Pup Cody, who did some tricks with lettered cards and a game of fetch (helped by his handler, Del). This was followed by Minty, who was acting like a playful puppy with a toy. Oakleigh followed next… and took a bag of magic stars, popped them, and then proceeded to eat them.
The first thought through my mind was … *WHINE* – as this was what I planned to do, but with Galaxy Counters!
Pup Shadow went next, and proceeded to perform some comedy which gave me a bit of time to think about what to do next… but then, suddenly, it was my turn.
I took the Counters on stage, was asked if I was ready, and I barked. “3… 2… 1… GO!”. I looked at my treat bag, carefully picked them up and walked over to the judges proudly and put the bag on their table. What happened from here on in was now completely unknown and out of my paws!!! They opened the bag, took one out and just as I thought the judge was going to balance the Counter on my nose, he threw that Counter on the stage area, followed by about half the bag of Counters. I don’t know what happened in that brief moment – my chance to go and eat them up… while the judges ate a few Counters too!
Then my minute was over… and the results were almost imminent, a very quick break whilst the judges added up the scores and then we were gathered together. First up was the announcement of “Puppy Congeniality”, it was announced as Minty! He got a tiara and a sash and a BIG jar of either buttons or jelly sweets … he chose the jelly sweets (never found out what happened to the jar of buttons after).
Then, came the moment of truth…
first the nervous 5 of us were whittled down to a final three. Unfortunately really huge commiserations and big hugs had to go to Cody and Shadow, the 2 that were now eliminated – thus leaving Oakleigh, Me and Minty in the final three *gulp*
The results were announced in reverse order and so 3rd place… and this went to Oakleigh who got some great prizes and a brone coloured bone medal.
Minty and I sat next to each as pup and we were hugging each other so tight that we could feel each other shaking with nerves. Then it was time to announce 2nd place … … … …
the wait was unbearable … … … … …
… … …
and the tension built … … …
after what seemed forever, it was announced as Minty in 2nd place! He got his wonderful prizes and a silve bone shaped medal.
This only meant one thing! I’d won Mr Puppy UK 2015 (and the first one ever!)
I honestly can not remember much about what happened after that, I was in shock with a tear in my eye; and still am to a degree, it’s still not quite fully sunk in!
I was awarded my prizes – a gold bone shaped medal (which I later found out was custom made for the event and is unique so is irreplaceable), £100 travel voucher for Mr Puppy Europe, £50 The Kinksters voucher, a years entry to ‘Kink’, a Mr-B puppy hood, a waistcoat with Mr Puppy UK 2015 patch on the back, and I look forward to representing the UK pups in Mr Puppy Europe next year.
And here’s the 3 pups with prizes:
The rest of the night was great, but being on a shell-shocked nervous buzz of the win, I can’t remember all that much – it was all a blur!
I do remember that on leaving at the end of the night, it did take me nearly an hour to get out from the social as everyone wanted a hug before I went.
Just to end this post with 2 more bits to say …
1) It’d be unfair to ‘steal’ all the praise and glory of the event, so I’ve added a gallery of all the other contestants involved in the Mr Puppy UK competition, so you can see what they got up to … it’s only fair to share as they have deserved this moment of fame as they had the courage to enter and compete:
2nd and Lastly, I’d like to say thanks to: @thekinksters(http://www.thekinksters.com/) for sponsoring the event, @mrpuppyuk(http://www.mrpuppy.org.uk) for the event, @pupsocialfor the hosting the event. I’d also like to thanks to my fellow contestants @mintypup,@pupoakleigh,@puprocket and the other competitors whose twitter handles I don’t know.
Pup Social & Mr Puppy UK On the weekend of the 21st November, the first ever Mr Puppy UK event was held at the…
Congratulations to @PupPiglet on being crowned as “Mr Puppy UK 2017″… Why 2017, I here you ask? Well, because of timings, it has been decided that the title will run for a calendar year, so the election on Saturday 24th September was to find the pup who will hold the title from 01/01/2o17 until 31/12/2017; and I’ll be Mr Puppy UK until 31/12/2016. I know I’ve been quiet on the blog recently but…
Following on from Mr Puppy EU
I thought I’d put paws to blog over some of the other aspects of the weekend in Antwerp…
In amongst Mr Puppy EU there were moments over the event where I had free time to visit some of the other stands – unfortunately due to the nature of the event, photos aren’t really permitted in general – but we were lucky enough to take some shots of me doing a couple of activities which don’t have anyone else in them…
For the first time ever, this puppy got a chance to play in a Vac Cube that was at the event, and what an experience it was. I had to first remove my hood and paws and harness so as not to tear the rubber. Then it was a case of climb inside through an edge, place my head through the neck hole and once comfy, they sealed me inside. … Then the vacuum was turned on and after a few seconds I started to get encased fully in latex. Once it had fully deflated around me, I had a bit of time on all-4’s which felt very natural for a pup… and then they turned me! I was now head facing up, and all of me was exposed, yet still on all-4’s! A bizarre but very comfy feeling. They they turned me again to face sideways, again fully exposed but now sort of lying on my side, but in a stance of being on all-4’s! … Having a try in a vac-cube is something that has always been on my wish-list to do … and now I’ve had the chance to do it, I want one for myself!
The pic are taken as snapshots, so aren’t the best quality they could be, but they give you the idea of what I was up to… though my tail looks rather ‘interestingly wrong!!!’ and almost looks rude!
A new purchase was also made when we visited a stall with some behind the back bondage cuffs meaning that there are now new ways to tie this puppy up… In due course I’m sure there will be pictures that will include these cuffs in service!
Once the event of Mr Puppy EU was over, and Leather Pride had finished, I was able to do something that had been tempting me all weekend whilst being a puppy – There was a frame over the Camp K9 area that was there with the specific purpose of suspension. I didn’t get a chance to do the suspension, but I did decide to jump up to it and then ‘hang around’ for a bit whilst up there – almost being semi gymnastic with it … Just wish I’d done it earlier and had more time to ‘pose’ whilst hanging there with my own paws :) *wags*
Finally, on the Monday as we were leaving, we paid a visit to Mister B in Antwerp; having a browse around and a chat with the staff about various things; including that they recognised me as the E-Stim Systems puppy and that I was the UK winner of Mr Puppy UK (Though the jacket might have helped that as a clue). I also munched on their puppy treats they had, which were really nice and had a sweetness to them!
There was lots of things we could have bought, but we decided to be good and I only came away with some new white knee pads – which are discontinued, so I’ll need to take care of these ones! Reason for so little purchases was due to having only a small amount of limited luggage space left for the flight home.
*wuffs*
Spot
Darklands, LeatherPride, Antwerp Following on from Mr Puppy EU I thought I’d put paws to blog over some of the other aspects of the weekend in Antwerp…
As part of winning Mr Puppy UK, I was automatically entitled to be entered in to Mr Puppy EU, held at LeatherPride in Antwerp, Belgium. This would be fine, but this puppy hasn’t been abroad in over 12 years, my passport was long since expired and lost… Thankfully, and to my surprise, between Christmas and New Year a new passport arrived for me. Pity I had to just be domestic in it though! With my…
*wags* Earlier this week, my final prize from Mr Puppy UK arrived in the post… the blue leather jacket with the patch on the back. However, with it being a busy week this week and with Christmas being so close, I decided to keep the surprise of the jacket until Christmas Day, where I thought I’d treat it as a Christmas present. Well, to say I was impressed is an understatement :) I’ve uploaded…
