Houndoom have long been associated with the dead, perhaps because they are notorious scavengers, perhaps because of the many protruding decorative bones along their bodies. In some traditions, they bring the dead to the afterlife, while others see them as demons who will bring about a premature end.

To the monks who train them, and to most of Kanto and Johto, however, their main role in the afterlife is to prepare souls for reincarnation through a process of burning.

Their burn is not a complete one, for that would leave no soul left – the pure, enlightened aspects of a person remain, while memories and attachments are usually burnt away. The form changes, too – the souls of sinful human and righteous pokemon change into pokemon and humans respectively, so it is said, and other aspects may also be altered by this burning. To this day, Houndoom are a common sight at funerals, where they are trained to spit fire at the deceased's heart, while mourners attempt to discern by the strength of the burn and arrow of the Houndoom's tail just what their loved ones will be in the next life.

A Houndoom's flame burns slowly, stinks of sulfur, and gives almost everything it touches among the living a searing pain which never quite seems to go away. And yet they are kept commonly by monks, who walk through their fires to test themselves, for it is thought that those who are truly enlightened will not feel even the tiniest of pains from a Houndoom's flame, even when alive. And indeed, these monks seem to handle the flames better than most, although their contorted faces make it obvious that they have not yet achieved enlightenment, if there even is such a thing.