It seems every summer has its sex thing. Take last year, for example, when a certain Sinners scene graced us with a summer of spit. Or back in 2019, when foot stuff was the seasonal sex special dominating the discourse (for Quentin Tarantino reasons, naturally). And now, thanks to not one but two recent onscreen displays of pup play—both involving Jacob Elordi, oddly enough—it seems a strong contender for the Sex Thing of Summer 2026 has emerged.
Also referred to as “pet play” or “puppy play,” this kinky little number is more or less what it sounds like: a form of sexual role play in which someone acts and/or dresses like a dog. It first made its way to a screen near you earlier this year in a sex scene from Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights in which Isabella (Alison Oliver) wears a collar and crawls around on all fours at the command of Elordi’s Heathcliff.
More recently, a similar scene from episode 1 of Euphoria’s long-awaited third season has once again thrust pup play into the spotlight. Five years post the events of season 4, Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) and Nate (also Jacob Elordi) are engaged and living together in the suburbs. Nate has taken over his father’s construction company while Cassie is trying to hack it on OnlyFans, which Nate learns when he returns home from work one day to find his fiancée dressed like a dog and pup playing for the camera.
“So I go to work all day, I come home, and you’re pretending to be a puppy dog?” Nate says, seemingly unamused by this discovery. However, he quickly changes his tune, getting in on the action by commanding Cassie to “come.” Cassie crawls toward him on all fours, and full-fledged Dom/sub pet play ensues, featuring Nate pulling Cassie’s leash, grabbing her collar, and telling her she’s “been a bad, bad dog.”
As you might expect, the response to the scene has been…mixed, if you will, with some unnerved viewers deeming it an “unnecessary” if not downright “diabolical” humiliation ritual. Meanwhile, others have defended Euphoria’s foray into fetish, calling kink-shaming on the scandalized pearl clutchers.
In many ways, both the scene itself and the conversation surrounding it mirrors the controversy that erupted last summer around Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend album cover, which shows the star on all fours while a man pulls her by the hair like a leash. In fact, you might even say Sabrina planted the seeds for Pup Play Summer last year, and it’s now in full bloom thanks to…well, Jacob Elordi, I suppose.
What are we to make of all this? Only time will tell. But in the meantime, I think it’s safe to say a trend is afoot. Like it or not, Pup Play Summer is coming. Be ready.
