The Cult of Dog People

This week, Amanda and Chelsea enter The Cult of Dog People, from pup birthday parties and breed evangelists to raw-feeding wars, “adopt don’t shop” morality, and the steadfast conviction that your dog can detect bad vibes better than you can. How did man’s best friend become a personality trait and a reason to feel morally superior to cat owners? We (lovingly) poke fun at the dog people culture before taking a much darker turn with our anonymous listener who, for the first time publicly, shares her experience working inside what she now describes as a dog-training cult. And this cult had everything: an isolated property, a charismatic guru, secretive and abusive training methods, rigid scripts, and the belief that hurting dogs could be justified because they were “saving lives.” Content Warning: Cruelty to animals. Please take care while listening. Subscribe to Sounds Like A Cult on Youtube! Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod, @amanda_montell, @reesaronii, @chelseaxcharles, @imanharirikia. Pre-order Iman's new book, Once in a Timeline, here! Your pre-order helps make more books possible! Sounds Like A Cult is coming to you LIVE from The Elysian in LA on October 15th! Get tickets at soundslikeacult.com! Thank you to our sponsors! Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers, or go to https://Quince.com/slac To get your new wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month, go to https://MintMobile.com/slac Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices