History
Connecticut Pets and Handlers started as a Telegram chat in late 2016 and blossomed into a (bigger Telegram chat and) community of over 115 members in and around the state of Connecticut as of late 2022.
The story of our organization starts in late 2014 at the New York City Eagle where Pup Starlight first discovered and fell in love with the puppy community, an offshoot of the leather community which had been growing into its own subculture.
Then, in October 2016, Starlight created the Greater New Haven Pups and Handlers with their pack and many of the local area pups they had met since their first Pup Night.
Our first major outing as a social group was in 2017 when Scooby, Mr CT Leather 2017, hosted a PUPPY! event at York St Cafe, which for many in the group was their first time interacting with other pups in person, having only met online previously.
By 2018, we had taken the name Connecticut Pups and Handlers, created a crest, and chose mods for our ever-growing Telegram community.
In September 2019, CT-PAH held its 1st Annual Pet Pride Social, an unofficial part of Pride New Haven, during which we raised $100 for the True Colors conference.
In September 2021, we hosted our 2nd Annual Pet Pride Social and Furry Pride Dance Party, a two-day fundraiser for the New Haven Pride Center and Trevor Project, for which we raised more than $750 combined.
In November 2021, we started doing a monthly bar night at 168 York St Cafe in New Haven, where we had held our Pride events. The format was based on everything we liked about other communities’ events: education, puppy mosh, and dance music. Our first Pet Night event featured the new Northeast Puppy and Handler contest titleholders. We also formally changed our name to Connecticut Pets and Handlers to be more inclusive of the greater petplay community at large.
In April 2022, we hosted our second Furry Pride Dance Party at Trevi Lounge in Fairfield where we raised over $750 exclusively for the Trevor Project, bringing our total donation to $1000 over 8 months.
This past month, Connecticut Pets and Handlers was included as an official part of the Pride New Haven experience. Our 3rd Annual Pet Pride Social & Dance Party was a one-day event at 168 York St Cafe, and was promoted as part of Pride New Haven’s FRINGEFest as a celebration of kink at Pride. The following day during PrideFEST on the New Haven Green, CT-PAH had its own tent where we educated the public on petplay (complete with scholarly materials on the topic) and promoted our next big charity event.
In two weeks on October 14th and 15th, Connecticut Pets and Handlers is producing a fundraising event for GLAAD in which we are attempting to raise over $1000 in two days. The first night is our usual Pet Night with discussion, mosh, and dance music, and the second night is a Halloween Costume Contest hosted and judged by members of our community.
We have Pet Night dates scheduled through the end of the year and are beginning to put together our calendar for the coming year. The last two Pet Night dates this year will be November 11th and December 9th.