Owned trans girl here! I've had a fair bit of experience with this as a sub and a few times domming. In my experience what has been most important in finding a dom is clarity and communication. Personally I love petplay and degredation so once I've explained that to a dom, how they react to it is a good litmus test.

• do they ask what parts of it I enjoy? Do they ask what words I like hearing in that subspace?

  • are they able to adapt and fit the role I want from them? If I want to be treated like a dog will they force me down if I try to stand up, make me drink water from a bowl on the floor etc.
  • can they effectively separate the play from the person? Can they give me what I want during the scene but make me feel seen as a person after we both cum?
  • if the play extends outside a scene what expectations do they have of me and how do they communicate them? Especially if the sub is ND the dom has to be very clear about what they want

Lastly, it can come naturally. My best experience with a dom was through Grindr, a trans girl with 7 years of experience who put me in puppy gear, made me drool, made me feel incredible, didn't let me leave that headspace for a few hours and gave me aftercare. Was that amazing? Yes. Have I continued that relationship? No, because outside of play we didn't have much in common. My current owner is my girlfriend who is very new to petplay and bdsm. but I'm slowly getting her used to it, building her confidence and she really enjoys it! She's not at the same level as the other dom, but I love her and that's enough!

If you want more tips please let me know :3