What Is the AZ Puppy Weekend & Contest?
The AZ Puppy Weekend (AZPW) is a annual celebration of the human puppy play community in the state of Arizona, USA. It is a weekend of events surrounding the cornerstone AZ Puppy and Trainer Contest (AZPTC) where contestants seek the opportunity to serve our community as the annual titleholders of AZ Puppy, AZ Trainer, and AZ Alpha-Beta.
Our Mission
The AZ Puppy and Trainer Contest seeks to celebrate, empower, and unite the best of of the human puppy play and human pet play alternative lifestyle community of the State of Arizona, United States of America. The contest should highlight and celebrate our members’ creativity, leadership, and diversity. Our contest, organizers, titleholders, and contestants champion exclusivity, foster belonging, and inspire positive change in our local and wider alternative lifestyle and queer community, creating a vibrant and accepting environment where every pup, pet, and person thrives.
The Pillars of Human Puppy Play
The organizers of the AZ Puppy and Trainer Contest believe in the following “Pillars” of human puppy play. The contest, its rules, and its events all strive to keep the promises they offer members of our community.
Everyone Can Be a Pup
Everyone, regardless of racial, ethnic, or cultural background, gender, gender expression, sexuality, age, big or small, hairy or smooth, and more, can be a puppy. Despite the roots of the puppy play community emerging from the gay men’s leather scene, anyone and everyone is welcome in our community and at our celebration and contest.
You Don’t Need Gear to Be a Pup
Gear is not required to experience pup and play. No one will be shamed for how they express their pup, with or without gear. Gear may be celebrated as part of a pup’s expression, but so will all other forms of expression, like clothes of any material, hair, makeup, and more! (Our events will offer loaner gear for new pups to wear if they want to explore the community with gear.)
Everyone Pup Plays Differently
Everyone’s expression of puppy play, provided it keeps the promise of these three pillars, is a valid way to be a pup. Relationships between people is defined consensually between those people and not subject to others’ opinion or inclusion. We ask before we assume and we always accept. We teach puppy play ideas from the understanding this is how “we do it”, not “this is how you must do it.”
Why “Pillars”? Why not call these “rules” or “guidelines” or something else? Easy. “Rules” can be broken and “guidelines” have a lot of room for interpretation, but “pillars” are strong, immobile, and foundational. From these ideas we can build our understanding and expression of our identity in this community.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement
The AZ Puppy and Trainer Contest is committed to fostering a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to contribute their unique perspectives and talents. We believe that diversity enriches our communities, enhances our experiences, and strengthens our collective ability to thrive.
We embrace diversity in all its forms, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, figure, ability, faith, socioeconomic status, nationality, and veteran status. We recognize that each individual brings a wealth of experiences, backgrounds, and identities to our community, and we celebrate the richness of our differences.
We strive to create an inclusive environment where all individuals are treated with dignity, fairness, and respect, and where barriers to participation are identified and addressed.
We actively seek out opportunities to amplify underrepresented voices, promote equitable access to resources and opportunities, and foster meaningful connections across diverse communities. We believe that by embracing diversity and fostering inclusion, we can create a more just, equitable, and vibrant community for all.
As we continue on our journey toward greater diversity and inclusion, we welcome feedback, dialogue, and collaboration from all members of our community. Together, we can build a more inclusive world where every individual has the opportunity to thrive.
Indigenous Land Acknowledgement
The AZ Puppy and Trainer Contest acknowledges the twenty-three Native Nations that have inhabited this land for centuries. We are located in the Salt River Valley on ancestral territories of Indigenous peoples, including the Akimel O’odham (Pima) and Pee Posh (Maricopa) Indian Communities, whose care and keeping of these lands allows us to be here today. We acknowledge the sovereignty of these nations and seek to foster an environment of success and opportunity for their people.
Responsible Use of AI Acknowledgement
The AZ Puppy and Trainer Contest acknowledges the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) products in our world. While AI-powered tools like voice-activated automation or self-driving vehicles offer an opportunity for a more accessible future, large language model generative AI models have revealed incredible economic, environmental, and social impacts that must be addressed and managed responsibly. We call upon our governments to regulate the use of AI to balance potential positive impacts against the many known and unknown negative impacts currently being observed or emerging while we also call upon our community to use AI responsibly until such a time.
AZPTC therefore commits to the following:
- Our organizers will not use generative AI for content that is creative in nature, including written, visual, or audio media.
- Our organizers will prohibit our contractors, including photographers, marketers, etc, from using generative AI for content that is creative in nature, including written, visual, or audio media, for work on behalf of the AZ Puppy and Trainer Contest.
- Our rules prohibit contestant applicants and contestants from using generative AI for content that is creative in nature, including written, visual, or audio media, in their contestant application or contestant media package.
- Our organizers formally discourage our current and past titleholders from the use of generative AI for content that is creative in nature, including written, visual, or audio media, to promote or describe the AZ Puppy Weekend and related events, as well as any events that are or may be hosted by the titleholders as part of community building, outreach, fundraising, education, etc.
- Our organizers formally discourage our other partners, including but not limited to, venues, vendors, and sponsors from the use of generative AI to create content that is creative in nature, including written, visual, or audio media for media submitted to the AZ Puppy Weekend events or published in relation the AZ Puppy Weekend events.