Although D/s training and sex plays a central role for many within our sample, some pups clearly seek to distinguish their pup role from that of a traditional sexual submissive or slave, highlighting how being a pup is more playful and also more independent-minded. That is, even though there is a degree of submission at play for the person engaging as a pup in sexual puppy play there is a subtle difference claimed by some in which this practice is distinguished from more orthodox D/s and Leather