From one night at a club to a national pup institution — this week, Hide and Seek goes back to where the Australian Pup and Handler Competition began.

Jon and Joenas are joined by Pup Tycho, founder of the Australian Pup and Handler Competition, researcher, community organiser and one of the people who helped shape Australia’s modern pup and handler scene.

Ahead of APHC’s return to Boorloo/Perth, Tycho takes us back to the beginning: discovering pup play, stepping into community leadership and creating a national competition with little more than one leather contest, one book about IML and a determination to do things differently.

We unpack the ideas that became central to APHC — transparency, accessibility, affordability, safety and the belief that inclusion has to be something you do, not something you simply claim. Tycho reflects on wheelchair access, sensory spaces, keeping events financially accessible and why taking APHC around the country matters.

Then we follow the competition through its evolution: the frantic first year, its first interstate outing at Gear’d, Tycho receiving the inaugural Nipper Award from International Puppy and Handler Weekend, the uncertainty of the lockdown years, APHC’s post-pandemic return and the growth of an increasingly diverse Australian pup community. And with APHC now owned and run by the community itself, we ask what comes next. What should an Australian titleholder actually do? Where does inclusion still fall short? And if APHC is still going strong another ten years from now, what should its legacy be?

As Tycho puts it: inclusion is an active process.

Links and resources mentioned in this episode

• Visit PupPlay.info for Tycho’s pup-play resources


• Australian Pup & Handler Competition / Australian Pups and Handlers
  
  Australian Pups and Handlers / APHC
  
  The current national APHC site, including the 2026 Boorloo/Perth program, contestants, judges and competition information.


• APHC history
  
  Australian Pup & Handler Competition history
  
  Useful alongside this episode for the year-by-year competition history.

Past Episodes

• 2016 — Tycho’s first Hide and Seek appearance


• 2018 — “Diamond Dogs”
  
  Jon, Groucho and Schism talk pup play and the results of the Community Survey


• 2022 — Ep 105: The Power of the Dog
  
  Thefirst on-location APHC coverage, from Meanjin/Brisbane — outgoing titleholders and the 2022 contestants.
  
  Listen: Ep 105 – The Power of the Dog
  
  Ep 109: Shaggy Dog Stories (at APHC)
  
  The second half of the Brisbane coverage, focusing more broadly on what pup play means to community members and what they wish they had known when they started.
  
  Listen: Ep 109 – Shaggy Dog Stories


• 2023 — Ep 145: Up To Scratch
  
  Your coverage from APHC in Boorloo/Perth, including Pup Garrett and the Puppy and Handler contestants.
  
  Listen: Ep 145 – Up To Scratch – Side A
  
  The aftermath: Australian Puppy Luca, Australian Handler Bowser and outgoing Puppy Jaxx.
  
  Listen: Up To Scratch – Side B


• 2025 — Ep 211: Best In Show – APHC 2025
  
  Your Melbourne APHC broadcast, with Tycho and Handler James, the 2025 contestants and the crowning of Lycan and Kitty Katastrophy.
  
  Listen: Ep 211 – Best In Show – APHC 2025
  
  Sextra: Breast In Show – Meet the Winners!
  
  The follow-up with Australian Puppy Lycan and Australian Handler Kitty Katastrophy, including their speeches and post-win interviews.

Follow Jon instagram.com/barbarylion/

Follow Joenas instagram.com/thisisjoenas/

Follow Craig instagram.com/white.dragon.339/

Follow Tim instagram.com/beatzradio/

This episode was recorded on the lands of the Yalukut Weelam clan of the Boon Wurrung peoples. We pay our respects to their elders, past, present and emerging, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Find other JOY podcasts at joy.org.au

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