Naam: Arcanine
Soort: Legendary
Type: Vuur
Nummer: 059
Evolution: Growlithe – Arcanine (fire stone)
Height at withers: dog 1.80-2.00 metres, bitch 1.70-1.90 metres
Weight: up to 160 kilogram
Animal type: Mammal, dog
Habitat: Open field, cities when tame (such as police Arcanine)
Description: Undoubtedly one of the most admired pokémon is Arcanine, the evolved form of the popular family pet Growlithe. A host of positive information is spread around about Arcanine, leading to a lot of people interested in evolving their Growlithe and driving up the price of fire stones. On the positive side, Arcanine are very patient and rarely get aggressive with humans or other pokémon that they are accustomed to. They are strong battlers and perfect guard pokémon, and are much in favor with the police. However, it must be said that there are negative sides to the evolution. Most notably is Arcanines size. Whereas Growlithe are big, but manageable inside a house, this is completely out of the question for Arcanine. Coupled with its endless energy, this makes it necessary for owners to have fast areas of land available. Arcanine do not respond well to being held in pokéballs for extended periods of time. The second problem is that Arcanines are hard to train. They are renowned for listening exceptionally well and being one of the most intelligent commonly available pokémon, and this is certainly true. However, this requires extensive training. An improperly trained Arcanine can wreak havoc to his surroundings. Trainers need to spend at least several hours a day working closely with an Arcanine to instill the necessary trust and respect. As long as the Arcanine still occasionally rises up against its trainer, challenging the trainers dominance, this intensive training must be continued. Usually, an Arcanine’s police training is considered complete when six months have passed without a challenge of dominance. After this, an Arcanine will remain loyal to its master for the rest of its life. Verified stories tell of Arcanine travelling halfway across the world to reunite with their trainers, or leading their trainers safely away from forest fires and other dangers. An Arcanine has to conform to strict norms to win the yearly Arcanine show held in Kanto. For instance, there must be no black on the head (save for the inside of the ears) or any of the cream coloured ‘fluff’ fur. There is a set percentage of the Arcanine that must be black (leaving an 8% margin) and the eyes must be a reddish brown. Fur may be neither too brown nor too red nor too light. Arcanine were the fabled mounts of the army of Tin Hang Ne, and feature in the famous legend written about this great warlord. Historical evidence suggests that Arcanine were indeed part of Ne’s army, though not nearly as many as mentioned in the legend. Until well into the last century, Arcanine were still used in some parts of the world as battle mounts.

Okay, okay, I cheated! Arcanine was third on the request list. But when I got the request, I couldn't leave it. Arcanine was heavily influenced by Chow Chow and Akita dogs. It is quite heavy set, not only because of all the fluff fur (try dunking a fluffy dog in water), but also because in the game sprites, well, it is!

Request for  kogie