The Movie

PUP follows two gay, Christian leathermen - Master Skip and Pup Tim - as
they prepare to compete in The Second International Puppy Contest (IPC), a
leather title contest for human canines and their handlers.

The documentary is the first to introduce puppy play - a fetish in which a human
expresses the attributes of a canine, most often in relation to another human
taking the position of pup handler, owner, trainer, etc.

Warm, affectionate, and funny, the film reveals a rarely seen world. We follow
Master Skip and Pup Tim through the IPC veterinary exam, where Tim is examined
by the panel of judges in a private room, and then through the public portion of
the contest, where the two perform before the judges and a large audience.

Author Janet Hardy writes: "The seeking of transcendence is one of the highest
human efforts ~ some do it in a church, some in a kennel, and a few in both."
In PUP, we meet two men who seek it in both, and for whom fetish is not
something separate from the spiritual fabric of their lives, but rather, is
comfortably woven in.

As Tim explains: "This is a spiritual thing....God didn't say: 'I'm giving you
this fetish. Now it's going to mess up your life.' Here, this is your fetish,
it's a gift. You can abuse it, or you can take it and cherish it and enjoy it -
celebrate it! Well, that's what I plan to do."