My Life In Leather: The Awakening

(Before I go any further, I’m going to assume that if you are a reader of Queerclick, you already have some idea about the world of leather and fetish, even if it’s just in the reviews of the sites and videos featured here. If there is something in my story that you don’t understand, please feel free to write in and ask me about it. I’m an open book and have no shame. I just feel that if I stop to explain every little thing, this will end up being a book rather than an introduction. Plus, I’ll be writing a lot more about many of these subjects here in the future, so if I pique your interest, stay tuned.)
I realized I was kinky around the same time I realized I was gay. Before the internet was a thing, men got off looking at porn models in magazines and reading the hot stories. One of the first porn magazines I looked at had a story about a college guy who visits a neighbor and ends up becoming used as a leather sex slave for him and his partner. As horny as I was looking at the many photos of naked men I’d seen in that magazine, nothing got me harder and hornier than that story. I started seeking out anything I could find about the world of S&M, but didn’t’ have much luck. Some years later I moved from the east coast to Los Angeles and got online for the first time. I immediately started seeking out others who shared my fetishes, and found tons of online clubs and websites for people who got off on the same things I did. One of the things that sparked my interest was a website that featured men on all fours being treated like dogs. My first reaction was, “what the fuck is wrong with these people???”. But I kept going back to that site. Something about it really spoke to me and I found more and more it was something I wanted to explore.
Then I did something really stupid. I met someone online who talked me into moving in with him as his dogslave. I had fantasies of being kept in a cage, fed out of a dog bowl, submitting to a hot leather Master and being used as his pet and sexual plaything. It turned out to be nothing like I thought it would be. But I learned a valuable lesson… always get to know the men you are planning on playing with beforehand, and never be afraid to ask around to see if this person is safe. Luckily, I got out of there just a little shaken up and with no physical harm done. Rather than quitting, I set out to find people I could trust enough to teach me the right way to get into this.
Shortly after, I met an amazing guy who gave me my first full on puppy training. We had already built a friendship and I knew I could trust him. He invited me over one night and had me sit and watch him play with his dog. I wasn’t sure what he was getting at but I watched them play fetch and tug of war. I sat there a little confused while he gave his dog belly rubs and got him to bark for treats. I thought the whole thing was kind of silly. Then he told me to strip down while he put the dog out in the yard. He came back and had me sit on the floor while he put a dog collar around my neck. He spoke slowly, almost hypnotically, about how much I was like his dog, obedient, easily excited, friendly, and loyal. Without realizing it he’d gently moved my arms and legs until I was sitting on my haunches, with my hands on the floor, as a dog would sit. He started stroking my head as one would pet a dog while he got me to clear my head. He said I should do what comes naturally instead of what I’d been taught to do my whole life and to just allow my primal self to do what it wanted. Then he told me to bark. I started out making some pitiful attempt at sounding like a dog. He hit me gently on the head with a rolled up newspaper and said, “that’s not how a dog barks, it’s how a person barks. Stop pretending and just allow it to happen”. And suddenly this amazing primal sound came barreling fourth from within as if it had been waiting to be released my whole life. It was like living mute and finally getting to speak for the very first time. And something inside me that had been locked away was set free. A short while later I was that pet dog playing fetch and tug of war, barking loudly and playfully, and even humping his leg when my aching erection screamed for attention. That’s when I realized that I wasn’t just acting like a dog, I was a human puppy and it was one of the most incredible experiences of my life.
After that I was like a starving man at a buffet, going after every kink and fetish I had ever fantasized about, and some that I never even knew existed. If I was given a chance to try something, which luckily happened often, I went for it just to see if I would like it or not. My motto became “I’ll try anything once, twice if I don’t like it”. I got to be flogged, mummified in plastic wrap, do play piercing, put into rope bondage and suspended six feet above the ground, shaved head to toe, play as a puppy in a puppy mosh pit with dozens of other pups at the International Mr. Leather contest weekend, and even subjected to electro torture at a charity event with tons of people watching. One thing about leather and kink, it can be a lot of fun when it’s your own dirty little secret, but when you can be an out and proud leatherman and not give a fuck who knows about it, your life can change in ways you’ll never dream of.
So where am I today? After having an incredible journey I realized it was time to give back. When I got into leather it seemed as though guys usually came out of the closet in their 20’s but it wasn’t until their 30’s or 40’s that they typically discovered leather. But thanks to the internet and social networking, guys are now able to come out at a much younger age and find others to talk to about their same-sex attractions. In addition to that, kink websites like Bound Gods (http://www.boundgods.com/) give guys a chance to explore their fantasies, and hookup sites like Recon (http://www.recon.com/), allow them the possibility to make those fantasies a reality. So, now guys are getting into kink and leather at a much younger age. Once I realized this was happening I noticed a lot of younger guys were looking for mentors and teachers, so I made it my mission to help these guys by being a friend and mentor they could talk to. I also noticed something new in my evolution as a Leatherman. As much as I loved my time being a human puppy, something I love even more is training them. And I now have the hottest, sexiest puppy of my own. He wears a chain collar with a padlock that I hold the key to and a dog tag that lets people know he is my property. That way, if anyone tries to mess with him, they’ll know they have to deal with me. And now that I’m part of the gang here at QueerClick, I’ll be talking about various aspects of the leather lifestyle, sharing the hottest videos and websites that get your balls churning and your dicks’ hard as a rock, and answering any questions you’ll have so you can find ways to live out your own fantasies.
Don Mike is an out and proud Leatherman living in Los Angeles. He’s an Alpha Pup, podcaster, writer, musician and leather contest emcee. He can be reached at [email protected].