We love dogs – and we love podcasts. So a round-up of podcasts about dogs? Yep, all over it.
A note before we get started: There are a lot of dog training podcasts out there. They’re great and helpful in their own right. But for this list, we were on a mission to find the best dog podcasts to pair with your next walk around the neighborhood, trip to the dog park or snuggle session on the couch at home.
Can I Pet Your Dog?
- Best for unapologetic dog lovers
- 200+ episodes
- 1 hour each
Renee Colvert and Alexis Preston host this weekly catch-up where they talk about their own puppers, the latest dog-related news and yes, dogs they’ve met and pet this week. “Can I Pet Your Dog?” also features special guests (scroll all the way back to episode 1 to hear how Lin-Manuel Miranda and his wife met their first rescue, plus his thoughts on a canine counterpart to Cats) and a segment called My Mutt Minute in which listeners lovingly gush about their four-legged best friends for 60 seconds.
Expect lighthearted discussion and easy laughs – both of which are a welcome reprieve from the regular stress-inducing news cycle. There’s a good chance you’ll start working on your own submission for My Mutt Minute after you listen.
My dog was a total unplanned pregnancy.
Off Leash & Officer Talon
- Best for true crime enthusiasts
- 2 episodes
- 46 and 22 minutes
This pair of podcasts from North Carolina’s own “Criminal,” a WUNC production, chronicles the real-life tales of two canine handlers – one inside and one outside prison walls.
In the most recent, “Off Leash,” host Phoebe Judge sits down with Toby Dorr – better known as the Dog Lady of Lansing Prison. Toby’s story plays like a cross between Animal Planet’s “Cell Dogs” and Showtime’s “Escape at Dannemora.”
“Officer Talon,” meanwhile, is an older episode that introduces listeners to Hillsborough, N.C., K-9 officer Talon and his human partner, Corporal Scott Foster. The episode offers an inside look at a day in the life of a crime-fighting dog and explores the bond between two- and four-legged law enforcement partners.
Expect to be drawn in by Phoebe Judge’s soft-spoken storytelling, the can’t-make-this-up details of Toby Dorr’s ordeal and all the heartfelt feels of Corporal Foster’s canine love triangle.
The Dog That Changed Me
- Best for pop culture fans
- 9 episodes
- 30 minutes each
“The Dog That Changed Me” is an easygoing interview show that feels like you’re listening in as two friends swap stories about their adorable rescue pups over coffee or a glass of wine. The catch: the “friends” are host Katherine Schwarzenegger – eldest daughter of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver – and guests like Mandy Moore, Minka Kelly and LeAnn Rimes. All nine episodes of this Purina-sponsored podcast dropped this past spring as a follow-up to the brand’s sponsorship of the IMAX documentary “Superpower Dogs.”
Expect heartwarming, feel-good stories about “foster failures,” introductions gone awry and dogs’ uncanny sixth sense for knowing exactly when their humans need a little bit of extra love.
Having this plus-one in life made everything exponentially better.
Your Dog Has Seen Me Naked
- Best for grown-up comedy
- 1 episode
- 27 minutes
Speaking of plus-ones: If you’ve ever had to accommodate an unwanted extra while trying to get some alone time with your partner, this live edition of “Modern Love: The Podcast” is for you.
Produced by Boston’s WBUR, Modern Love showcases notable voices reading essays submitted to “The New York Times” column of the same name. This Valentine’s Day edition features William Jackson Harper – who plays Chidi on “The Good Place” – regaling the audience with Ryan Pfeffer’s essay about dating a series of women with two things in common: dogs and studio apartments.
Expect to laugh, cringle and relate as you meet Josie, an attention-seeking chihuahua-pomeranian mix with a penchant for awkward eye contact; Rigatoni, a good boy with an enviable strut; and Bubba, “a tank with shoulders like a linebacker and jaws like a bear trap.”
This Podcast Has Fleas
- Best for kid-friendly comedy
- 6 episodes
- 20 minutes each
This six-part podcast from WNYC Studios is supposedly for kids, but we dare you not to laugh out loud while listening with them. A fast-paced, entertaining story about a family dog and cat with dueling shows, “This Podcast Has Fleas” feels a little like “The Secret Life of Pets” in audio form. You’ll join Waffles the Dog and Jones the Cat as they compete for treats and attention from their humans, birthday party guests and the family fish and gerbil. Bonus delight: Mr. Glub the Goldfish is voiced by none other than Alec Baldwin.
Expect enough grown-up Easter eggs to keep you entertained as you listen with your little ones. And to maybe like cats just a little bit more after listening to Jones deliver one-liners in his “live from the litterbox” studio.
Sorry, but I’ve been rocking this show for like, nine lives already.
