Who is the best dog Pokémon?

[NovaBrunswick]

Every generation so far has introduced at least one dog (or dog-like) Pokémon. Who do you think is the best doggo of them all?

My personal favorites are Houndour/Houndoom, Riolu/Lucario and Fidough:

• Houndour and Houndoom - Although Gen 1 did have somewhat dog-like Fire types with Growlithe and Arcanine, Houndour and Houndoom are the true Fire dogs. Houndoom reminds me somewhat of Cerberus, the three-headed dog from Greek mythology, and its Mega Evolution even more so. Houndoom's name in Japanese is Hellgar, very appropriate for its hellish image and behavior.

• Riolu and Lucario - Always popular since Lucario's debut in the eighth movie and its subsequent starring role in Super Smash Bros., they're well known for being able to read auras. They could make a very useful guard dog if they were real, as they could sense danger coming much more than a normal dog. You were able to catch Riolu as early as the first route in Black 2/White 2, which after some initial difficulty made it a great team member (I used one in my B2 playthrough).

• Fidough - A dog made from dough, how could you go wrong? It just looks so fluffy that you'd want to eat it if it weren't a Pokémon. Kudos also to Game Freak for coming up with probably the cleverest Pokémon name ever. (If any evolutions for it are revealed in Scarlet/Violet, I'll add them as an option.)

 

[keepitsimple]

I favor Lillipup line mostly due to it being like the only good mon you can catch before the first gym in bw1 so i end up using it a lot. Arcanine is iconic tho so he's also a good boy.

 

[janejane6178]

The new dog cuz it’s fairy

 

[KyogreThunder]

Arcanine, as it is elegant and majestic and has a great movepool with coverage moves like Wild Charge, Close Combat, Dragon Pulse, and Scorching Sands.
Houndoom, as it is intimidating and has a cool Shiny form.
Lycanroc-Midday - sleek and fast and has a cool signature move in Accelerock.
Lucario - looks cool, has a vast movepool, and its Mega is pretty amazing, too.
I also really like Mightyena, Manectric, and Stoutland.

 

[Tsukisha]

I actually enjoy Furfrou the most, since I find its trims' gimmick to be rather nice as well as its ability, Fur Coat.

Honorable mention to Houndoom, Lucario, Arcanine and Lycancroc (Midnight).

 

[SprigatitoFuecocoQuaxly]

To me, I like the Rockruff family due to the difference between the two forms of Lycanroc (Midday Form and Midnight Form), plus the final form of the former with Own Tempo (Dusk Form Lycanroc).

 

[Pokefan_1987]

The Rockruff line. The base form Rockruff is just adorable and the Dusk Form is incredible as well.

 

[Leonhart]

I'm quite fond of Iwanko [Rockruff], which is somewhat ironic considering that I didn't like it much at first, but it eventually grew on me. Gardie [Growlithe] would be my second favorite.

 

[NovaBrunswick]

The new dog cuz it’s fairy

You mean Fidough?

 

[janejane6178]

You mean Fidough?

Yes

 

[WishIhadaManafi5]

The Houndoom line. Always liked it.

 

[Ryker101]

Lycanroc dusk form

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

The Houndour and Riolu lines are both amazing to use. Houndour is better than Growlithe because of its typing and its Abilities all being useful in one way or another. Riolu and Lucario both hit pretty hard and can learn many attacks that can throw opponents off and Lucario’s typing and Speed is really good. My favorite moveset to use on Lucario is Power Up Punch, Aura Sphere, Extreme Speed, and Bullet Punch.

 

[Reno]

Houndour/Houndoom are the best ones. Was surprised to see Riolu/Lucario in the poll but I guess they do count as canines technically.

 

[Red and Blue]

While some of the lines on the list are my personal favorites my favorite dog Pokemon would have to be Growlithe and Arcanine. Both the normal ones and Hisuian variants

 

[TwilightBlade]

Houndour, Rockruff and Yamper are some of my favourite doggy Pokemon but even though I like them I've only used Rockruff on my teams.

 

[Pyreon]

Where do I vote for Raikou, Entei and Suicune?
I love Houndoom but I kinda think Arcanine is a better dog, so voted for both lol

 

[OwensJB]

Where do I vote for Raikou, Entei and Suicune?

Because those ain't dogs lol. One's a lion, one's a tiger and one's a leopard of some kind.

Ot: I like Fidough and Poochyena the most but Boltund is pretty cool too.

 

[Taodragon]

Because those ain't dogs lol. One's a lion, one's a tiger and one's a leopard of some kind.

Ot: I like Fidough and Poochyena the most but Boltund is pretty cool too.

To be fair, Entei and especially Suicune have dog-like traits and even the trio's designer states that they intentionally designed them so that they didn't exclusively look like a dog or cat. They count as much as Mightyena does, who's primarily a hyena with some wolf traits possibly thrown in.

 

[OwensJB]

To be fair, Entei and especially Suicune have dog-like traits and even the trio's designer states that they intentionally designed them so that they didn't exclusively look like a dog or cat. They count as much as Mightyena does, who's primarily a hyena with some wolf traits possibly thrown in.

You're talking about what Muneo Saito said on Twitter right? When he talked about Entei he did say something like "I didn't want it to be simply an animal. So I settled on a silhouette that could look like a dog or a cat" but he also said about Entei that "you could say it was basically like a lion" so a lion was the main basis for the design based on what Saito said.

Saito also specifically said that Raikou is "tiger-like" and Suicune is "leopard-like" so it's clear that he had cats in mind more than dogs even if the Beast Trio has some minor dog qualities.