How I Became a Pet

Most people who know me would not consider me submissive. I don't really consider myself a submissive. In spite of this, four years ago I did find myself at the end of a leash, wearing only a collar, being led around like a dog as I crawled on my hands and knees. Looking back on those days I realize that this was the result of a perfect confluence of circumstances. Had the timing not been what it was, those days would have been like any other. A daily routine of trying to maintain some form of mental stability while balancing college and the new social situations that come with it after high school and the generally unpleasant and stressful experience of living at home with my hypercritical mother, her douche bag boyfriend, and my future influencer self absorbed little sister.

If you are reading this you might get the idea that I'm a bit spoiled and ungrateful. My mom's boyfriend tells me this everyday. I have food to eat, a nice place to live and I'm going to college without having to worry about money. That's fair, I do have a lot to be thankful for, and I really am. I've also been struggling with clinical depression and anxiety since childhood. There have been days where I literally have felt myself sinking into a strange abyss that I can't break free from. Medication and counseling have helped a lot which is the primary reason that I decided to major in psychology in college.

I think the strangest thing about becoming a pet was not simply that it happened at all but who it happened with. Dave had been a friend of the family for as long as I could remember, though my mom didn't like him. He was a friend of my dad's though and if the subject came up, he always had something nice to say about him. I didn't really see much of my dad since I was 10 years old. Sometimes I felt like hearing about my dad from other people was a way to get to know him and talking to people who liked him always gave me a sense of comfort and happiness.

Dave is a hard person to describe. He was always kind. When I was younger, I remember that he would take his family to the zoo near where we lived. If he saw my sister and me he would always buy us soft serve ice cream. He used to love to feed the little goats that I was afraid of. As he got older he seemed to have this strange quiet confidence. I didn't talk to him much while I was in high school. His kids had grown up and moved away and for some reason his wife left, though I never learned why. Neither of us went to the zoo much after I started high school but I would always see him in the park when I used to go jogging. He had retired and seemed to enjoy time at the park.

Not long after graduating from high school I was jogging in the park and I needed a rest. As usual I was feeling a lot of anxiety and was trying to jog the stress away, but it was almost July and the morning temperature was rising fast. I remember that day the temperature got over 100 degrees, but that morning it was still only in the 80's. I stopped near where Dave was feeding the ducks. I was winded and covered in dripping sweat, and Dave asked me if I was doing ok. He flirtatiously told me that watching me jog was the best part of his day, but warned me not to over do it. I blushed at the little flirtation and acknowledged that it was getting too hot for jogging.

I didn't live too far away, but Dave offered to get some water for me. He used to live close to where we did, but sold his house after his kids moved out and got a condo across from the zoo and the amusement park that was right across from that. It was closer so I took him up on his offer and went with him to his place. I know some people may think that it was weird for a guy Dave's age to flirt with me at the park, and for me to just go with him to his condo for water, but it really wasn't that weird. He was a friend of the family and in spite of the flirtation, he was very respectful.

When I got to Dave's condo I was kind of sad to see that he was living alone. I've always remembered him seeming to be a somewhat gregarious man, who was happy with his family. Now he was living alone. Dave offered me water, which I gladly accepted and gulped down. I know this is the part of the story where everyone would like to hear how he tricked me into becoming sexually submissive and took advantage of me, but it didn't happen quite like that.

I cooled off at his condo while drinking water and we talked for a few hours. He told me how his children were doing and that his wife left but she was doing fine. He asked about my dad, and we talked about him for a bit. We talked about my mom and my sister for a little while which was awkward because my mom didn't seem to like him, but then she doesn't like a lot of people. She pretends to like people, but at home she always has something negative to say about everyone. After reminiscing for a few hours I went home.

The next day I went to the park for my morning run and saw that Dave was there feeding the ducks as usual. This time however he had some bottled water with him. It was a nice surprise because I knew that Dave had brought the water for me in case I got over heated during my jog like the day before. It gave me a little more confidence in my run and I was tempted to pick up my pace and push myself but instead I stopped and drank water with Dave by the duck pond at the park and it was nice.

We went on like that for a few weeks. I enjoyed our talks even though it meant my runs were getting shorter, but that didn't matter really. My runs were only partly about being physically fit. They were mostly about getting out of the house and coping with the general sense of anxiety that I struggle with. It seemed talking to Dave helped with that a lot as well. I felt like our hanging out at the park also helped Dave to not feel lonely. He never mentioned it until I did. He isn't someone who complains about anything. Instead he will turn everything that seems unpleasant into a joke so it was no surprise that when I asked him if he ever felt lonely at his condo he laughed and suggested that I could be his emotional support pet.

The idea of being treated like a pet wasn't brand new to me. I had read a book about Sleeping Beauty in which she had been on a leash and made to fetch roses on all fours, so somewhere in my psyche that idea had been sitting around latently waiting to re-emerge. Until that conversation I didn't think about actually doing anything like that. At any rate, I told Dave that I wouldn't be a very good pet and he joked that I would be the best pet ever. I blushed and we both let out a bit of a laugh at the idea but I also felt a strange rush flow through me. For the rest of the day I was having thoughts of becoming Dave's emotional support pet. It was strange and I didn't understand completely at the time the feelings that I was having about it but the idea of becoming Dave's pet kind of consumed my brain for the rest of the day.

By this time it was early August and college would be starting soon. My runs in the park would be less frequent. I had already registered for school and had a pretty full load of classes. I decided I didn't want to go for a run after talking to Dave that day. Instead I wore a sun dress and walked to the park where I found Dave in his usual spot feeding the ducks. He had a bottle of water for me as usual and I sat next to him and we talked. I asked him if he was serious about me becoming his emotional support pet. He laughed, and asked, "why, would you actually consider it?" He seemed stunned when I told him that I was.

After some awkward conversation and a short drive we ended up at a pet store. My mind was running wild and I could hardly contain my nervousness. We were only there for a dog collar and leash but I couldn't have been more nervous if I was robbing a bank. I looked around and crazy ideas popped into my head everywhere I looked. As if being treated like a pet on a collar and leash wasn't crazy enough, I would look one way and see kennel cages and imaging being in one, I would look the other way and see dog treats and image being fed some, and yet another way and saw dog toys.

Ultimately I picked out a chain collar and leash to wear, and a rubber ball to play with. I started to reach into my purse to pull out my credit card, but Dave already had his ready. I'm not sure what was running through his mind but he seemed anxious. Almost like he couldn't believe this was happening. To be honest, I was a little surprised with myself that this was happening.

On the drive to Dave's condo, I had a chance to assess the situation. I know that my mental health is sometimes an issue and I thought about what I was doing. Was what I was doing healthy or was it something harmful. I knew my mom would not approve but she never approves of anything I do. She didn't even approve of the college courses I wanted to take. She wanted me to take business and marketing classes. Ultimately I came to the conclusion that this wasn't anything that would lead to physical harm. Dave wasn't someone who would or even could hurt me. This also wasn't hurting myself. I wasn't using drugs or cutting on myself or anything like that. It was just trying something that most people would consider a bit unusual but might be fun.

By the time we walked into Dave's condo my heart was pounding and I was a strange mix of nervous and excited. I could see from the look on Dave's face that he was feeling the same way. He told me that I could back out of this anytime I wanted to. He seemed reassured when I told him, "I know."

I don't think Dave knew what to say after that. We were both very nervous and I think he was worried about saying the wrong thing. Both of us were responsible for what was happening but I think on some level he probably imagined my dad getting angry about this and my mom trash talking him. That was never going to happen because I would never mention it to anyone, and I was pretty certain Dave wouldn't either. Sensing that Dave wasn't wanting to make the first move, I turned away from him and lifted my hair up. I expected that he would put the collar on my neck, but he was confused which was reasonable. We hadn't discussed any kind of limits or expectations. Instead of placing the collar around my neck, he unzipped my dress.

I shouldn't have been surprised but I was. I was surprised and was a bit embarrassed. I had never been naked in front of Dave and now he was undressing me. I didn't say anything, I didn't protest or do anything to stop him. As embarrassed as I was, I didn't want to. After sliding my dress off, he unhooked my bra and removed it. Once he removed my panties I was completely naked in front of him.

To this point in my life I hadn't been naked in front of very many men. Actually only one man, and he wasn't much of a man. My boyfriend was my age but that is just barely a man though we are both adults. Sex between the two of us was generally clumsy and awkward. I can't say it was unpleasant but it was generally somewhat perfunctory and brief. When I give him blow jobs he spasms wildly when he cums and I am sometimes worried that he will accidentally kick me. Enough about that though. I know a lot of people might have some kind of judgement about me doing this while I was dating someone else. So far this thing I was doing with Dave wasn't really cheating, though it seemed to be heading in that direction.

It was only after I was completely naked that Dave placed the collar around my neck followed by attaching the leash to my collar. When he tugged down on the leash, my heart literally skipped a beat. I immediately dropped to my hands and knees and just like that, I was Dave's emotional support pet.

What happened next literally took my breath away. I would ultimately do some studying on the subject, but at the time I didn't understand it. I was naked on my hands and knees, I had a dog collar on my neck and as I looked up at Dave who was standing over me. Then he bent down and petted my head, and stroked my hair and told me, "You are such a good girl". It seemed like those words were a magic phrase, because once he said that, all I could think about was that I wanted to be his.

I think a lot of people have a lot of different ideas of what it should be like to be a pet. I was embarrassed at first because I was naked in front of someone, especially an older man who I've known since childhood. As embarrassed as I was, I didn't feel humiliated, though I did feel humbled by the experience. I was a pet and I felt as if I belonged to Dave, but I was also a person. I've since learned that some people bark or meow or engage in some form of nonhuman speech, but while I was a pet, I continued to talk like a normal person.

Talking like a normal person while I was a pet I think made the experience more special to me. Both Dave and myself were able to freely express ourselves. Physically I think we both enjoyed the intimate contact and touching. As Dave grew more comfortable I enjoyed the feel of his hands on my body, feeling my breasts and putting his fingers inside me. For the most part our relationship wasn't sexual. We never had sexual intercourse but he was the first man who ever caused me to orgasm. His penis felt amazing in my mouth. He wasn't instantly erect like my boyfriend's cock. It was usually semi-erect. It felt silky soft and tasted faintly sweet and as it grew in my mouth it was warm like something right out of the oven. I've always had a problem gagging when my boyfriend cums in my mouth but that wasn't a problem with Dave. One of the benefits to being able to communicate, even as a pet, is that we can talk about things that we find unpleasant and find alternatives. It turned out that Dave was perfectly satisfied cumming on my face.

As I began taking classes, I was able to develop some theories and learn more about why I enjoyed my experiences with Dave. I approached one of my psychology professors and inquired from an academic point of view why some people would find this kind of relationship appealing. He directed me to a study concerning the production of oxytocin. I was amazed to find that there was actually a pretty extensive study on the relationship between pets and humans. Both the pet and the human produce an endorphin called oxytocin that causes a kind of high as the two bond and engage in play and physical contact like cuddling. The result is a reduction in depression and anxiety. When I learned this I was amazed though I understood why this isn't part of conventional therapy.

Unfortunately this story has a sad ending. I spent about a year as Dave's pet. Sometimes I dream of being on all fours looking up at him, waiting for him to toss my ball for me to chase and returning it so that he could call me his good girl. I doubt most people will understand what that meant for me to be told I was a good girl and I miss that.

Roughly six months before Covid swept the world, Dave got sick. It seemed like just a cold when it started but then turned into pneumonia. Watching him die in the hospital was probably the single most agonizing experience of my life. As Covid came into the consciousness of the world it would remind me of Dave and it tortured me emotionally. As the world went into lockdown, I withdrew almost completely from everything.

I don't know if there will ever be another person like Dave in my life. I know that he would want me to have a life though. Some days it will be hard. When it does I will think of him and maybe imagine him at the park waiting for me to give me water. Or maybe I will imagine him looking down at me telling me I am a good girl.

Maybe I will even find the words to write about it.