How did YOU become furry? =)

[Alex Laetus]

Did I talk on here yet...?

No???

Surprising !

Alrighty! My furry story!!!


So it was about ... what, 12, 13 when I finally got into fanfiction, and for some odd reason, I was drawn to Digimon stories.

I kept reading them for awhile, and got curious and would occasionally browse for pictures on the interwebs. Probably not a safe idea, but nonetheless, I did and of course did find pictures of digimon and all of that.

Digimon, being anthromorphic animals, eventually led me to fur affinity, where I more or less began my slow trek to what I learned was known as 'The Furry Fandom'.

It should be noted I've always loved animals so much, and just cuddling against them, as well as the concept of transformation into animals. Animals have such unique and infectious personalities, and can do such amazing things.


Anyways, me just enjoying furry art from a distance for awhile, and then one day, a few months ago, I find myself thinking (it's related, I swear); wow. Am I bisexual?


I talk to my 'big sister' about it, and after much confusion on my end and uncertainty, she helped me figure out; IT'S OKAY TO BE QUEER AND WEIRD, But most importantly, yourself!

So fast forward a few more months, and I talk to another friend who really likes wolves. I tried to ask if she was a furry, but she instead explained that she mainly liked ginjinkas and all, though it was totally cool if I was a furry ! Sorta weird story, but she really got me thinking on this; just what is a furry? What do they do?

So one veeerrry late ... I think October night, I decide to pick up my ears, and browse around to see if there's a furry forum that wasn't fur affinity; lo and behold, I found TFF!

Now, as to why I'm a dog;


Ever since Freshman year, my big sis, who is perhaps one of the most awesome people in the world, took me under her wing; we'd met earlier at a lock in party a few months ago, and we recognized each other from the shared interests we had.

ANyways, she took me to hang out with some of the most awesome seniors I'd ever met, mainly because I have a more mature mindset, and I had a blast! THey started calling me 'Pup' from the way I always followed them around, and wanted to hang out.

It got me thinking just how much I really do act like a dog. Not to mention I had created a character named Alex for an RP group I'm in, and he really acted like a dog.

As one could guess, I just threw some fur on him, made him a real dog, alligned him a bit more with my personality, and voíla; Alexander Laetus, the furry Ryan Cowell!

That's pretty much it, I think! My story how I became, and still am, a furry.

[MaskaTheOtter]

^And You are the best dog there is 

[ProfessorMurdock]

I work at a nature preserve and I take care of wild animals all day so this just seems right for me

[HyenaKing]

Explain... Please...

[ProfessorMurdock]

Explain... Please...

Sorry, I will do so.
I work at the nature preserve Cedar Bog (it is really a fen not a bog). We take care of a large number or endangered plants and even some animals. Other than maintenance I also take care of the "house animals" which could be anything for example skunks, snakes, raccoons, lizards, and even bees. I feel like they accept me and I am one with them. Also I love the idea of anthro animals I think it is super sweet. I hope I clarified everything for you for you.

[HyenaKing]

Yeah! Great, man! I don't mean to be too harsh, i was just a little confuzed when i just saw such a short explanation.

[ProfessorMurdock]

Yeah! Great, man! I don't mean to be too harsh, i was just a little confuzed when i just saw such a short explanation.

All Good I am new to the FORUM world sorry

[HyenaKing]

Forum world!
I became a furry when i just got more and more drawn into it, the original spark was kitty0706 with his random references to furry stuff. (anything that is blue is a link)

[Nicklaus Morgan]

By watching a lot of caroons and finding out that people like to dress up like animals ... Fell in love on the first sight

[Toxic Konpeito]

I started out very similar growing up, enjoying Secret of Nimh,  Disney's Robin Hood and especially The Lion King, and eventually Pokémon. I wasn't allowed to attend school as a child, so most of my playtime was spent alone making up mental games and playing with imaginary friends (who eventually turned out to be my fursona). I didn't really find out about the fandom until I was about 14-15, and I was freaked out by it a little at first (I had seen that episode of C.S.I), but I got to know a few people who were involved with it and gave it a try just to see what it was all about. Haven't left since. And the fact that I'm an obsessive art hoarder doesn't help

[Snow Kittie]

Here is my full detailed story, I was going to make a thread about it but decided I should just post it here!

I am a furry. That is the plain truth. I don’t know when exactly I started being a furry by definition, but I’ve known about it for a couple months now. I’ve been interested in anthropomorphic characters (fictional non-human characters with human characteristics) for as long as I can remember, loving movies such as The Fox and the Hound, Alpha and Omega, Sonic, and other various kid oriented material. To this day I secretly get excited when I see such a movie in our pile to watch, but I don’t let anyone know.  I also love games where I get to be the animal, a perfect example being Pokemon. I used to have a game where I was a pokemon and I was addicted to it, however I find the other pokemon games where I am a human joining battles and such very boring. Sometimes I would see an anthropomorphic art piece and really like it, maybe stop and look at it for a while.

I always assumed something was wrong with me and I shouldn’t like this stuff, especially after asking my friend if he thought about the art in the same way and he said no giving me a weird look. I spent many years hiding it, not knowing what was wrong with me, thinking I was an outsider and didn’t belong. One night, while watching TV, I saw a house full of people in animal costumes being very promiscuous and I thought it was the weirdest thing I have ever seen on "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (Episode: Fur and Loathing). However, I was somewhat intrigued. My memory of that episode disappeared after about two weeks.

A couple months later I accidentally stumbled across the furry fandom on Wikipedia, along with yiffing and other furry terms. The next day I went to school and joked about it all to my friends, we all talked about how odd it was and I thought they must be very crazy people. A week passed and I was looking it up again, digging for more info, simply for the reason of pursuing knowledge. I read on and on and found new pages, new terms, etc. Again, we joked about it at school.

A few more weeks passed and something clicked inside me. I don’t remember what triggered it, but I realized I was a furry! I went home that night and read up on it, picking out the details this time instead of skimming over, and the more I read the more I confirmed it. I started looking up furry art, and even got into the less-then-family-friendly materials. This quickly died off, and for a month I was left with the vague knowledge that I was a furry, moving on with life.

Some time went by and then I was reminded of the fandom. From here things started to take root, growing and growing into a full obsession. I started noticing the furries in my school, guessing who was and who wasn’t. I started, again, learning more about the fandom. I found out about conventions, fursuits, fursonas, and more. It was all a blur, and still is, so I can’t place many details, all I know for sure is that I went from the thought that furries exist and they are weird to the thought that I am one and I’m glad.
I suddenly had a description and an explanation for my odd thoughts. I had a community to relate to and talk to. Suddenly, I wasn’t so weird anymore. I mean, I am very weird, but now weird isn’t so bad. I had thought that weird was horrible and I needed to be normal, but now I feel that weird is to be embraced and I should express myself!
My knowledge grew and grew in confusing spirals and paths and tunnels, learning one thing, than connecting it with another, then jumping ahead and having to back track. It was all such a mess, but eventually it was figured out. I knew what most of the terms meant, enough to describe them to others, and I started to get myself situated in the position. I created a fursona, which at the time I also thought was a fursuit, and I started to draw simple little sketches. I gave up on the sketches, being I couldn’t even get the head right, and focused instead on my mind. I joined forums and bookmarked pages such as the MidWest Furfest, Anthrocon, and FurAffinity.

Over the next few days I learned a lot from my days on the forums, for example a fursona and fur suit are two different things, and that the furry community isn’t all about the sketchy stuff either, its centered around art.  I learned that the show I had watched wasn't quite accurate, and I made connections to the things I had learned earlier. Every day I learned more feeling more confident with my understanding each day. During this time of learning I also made a couple yarn tails, and wore them to school for a couple weeks. After those weeks my obsession dwindled and I fell into my place, as a furry.

I realize now, that my first impressions were wrong. Furries are simply people, in a community together, celebrating something they all like. Everyone has there fandoms and obsessions, everyone has the occasional odd thought and wishes that maybe they aren't quite sure about. I had felt uncomfortable being different when I was alone, but with people to relate to and talk to I feel much more calm. The fandom is like a family, all hyper-happy-loving-friendly people that I am proud to be a part of. When you really get to know furries they are great people, I was one of those haters but I've changed now and have a different point of view. Proud to be furry.

…However apparently a second wave of the obsession is hitting. Cause here I am typing all this… Hi.

[Halopromise]

Hm, I've answered this a lot over the years, always fun to recap though! See the differences from before and then.


For me, as an artist, I began drawing around the age of 3 years old due to my dad always wanting to teach me. He barely had to make a habit of it since I took right too it immediately. I suppose as an artist, I've also appreciated creativity more than most things. My class mates in elementary drew their siblings or random people, all the while here I was drawing my pets and dragons.


My mother always hooked my to Disney classics, Lion King, Beauty and the beast, fox and the hound, we're back and a whole lot more.
Besides all that, as I grew up, I took to animal documentaries very quickly. From things by Steve Irwin to Big cat diaries. I'd always head to the school library to read up on animal biology, behavior and things of that nature. Just fascinated me.


I always began constantly drawing anthropomorphic creatures through middle school and up; luckily, it was almost common and very accepted. I'd say a lot of us there were furries and never knew.


Soon after, my "sister" introduced me into an online game called "wolf quest" and that was the very first time I heard about role play (besides video game sorts). I was at first, a little drawn back but it didn't repell me at all. At first, I just shrugged it off, but the next day I believe I asked her to help me join up. She taught me what role play was and I began. Almost 5 or so months go by and the compacity of the game became troublesome since I had formed a pack that the serves couldn't handle in one game. (5 or so limit).
We made a site just so we can all meet up and talk over a chat, that site evolved immensely once it turned into the packs RPG. After I created the site, it reached nearly 3000 members within a couple years and ran quiet smoothly.


 Around it's second year I saw the word "furry" and instantly began researching to find out it was so much larger than I thought. Figured I belonged. More of the feral community when it comes to role play, but still.


Besides all that, I've had my fursona since I was 11, which is waaay before I even owned the RPG. Stuck with her since.


SO YEAH....
Long story is long...ish.

[nixon/monto]

Loved that story. My favorite yet.

[Nicklaus Morgan]

Wow ... Very nice story ... I loved it

[Edie]

You know, I am not exactly sure how I became a furry. Sometimes I would be watching a cartoon when I was in the single digits and thinking, "Huh, that animal dude is pretty cool." I thought about if I were an animal person like him I'd probably have a crush on him. I had no idea what a furry was of course, so considering furry is kind of a self-proclaimed title I was not yet a furry.

A few years later and I am a teenager, sitting with one of my best friends. She looks at me one day and asks me all of a sudden, "Are you a furry?" and in response I just sort of look at her confused.

"No?" then I think about it a little, "What?"

"A furry, are you a furry?"

This went on for about a week, I didn't look up what a furry was, or anything to do with the fandom because I didn't really ever think about it when I wasn't with her. I didn't go to many places on the internet, and I didn't really talk to many people about things on the internet. Never went on forums or image boards.

Then she asked me again like she had every time we were hanging out, "Hey, are you a furry? Come on, tell me."

"Um... I don't even know what a furry is."

So she explained it to me, and then showed me furaffinity, and all that saying, "Huh, a lot of furries are good artists... where is all the good art." and thus she had to consult her former furry adviser.

"You have to turn off the filtering, most of the good art is porn."

"Oh thanks." she said. Then she showed me the furry stuff and asked again in a very serious manner, "Are you a furry?"

I said, "Yeah, I think I'm a furry." and from that moment on I was made fun of in a light hearted way by my friends and certain family members who knew what a furry is.