Arcanine (Growlithe)

Canignus deorum deorum

Introduction

Arcanine was one of the first pokémon to be tamed. There are 30,000-year-old cave paintings in Central Asia depicting human hunters fighting alongside an arcanine. The species’ bones are often found near Paleolithic archeological sites in the region. Yet, arcanine were not common in captivity until the Industrial Revolution.

The Chinese used tame arcanine as far back as 500 B.C.E. They were the mounts of the highest-ranking generals and imperial messengers, as well as the pets and guardians of the emperors themselves. All tame arcanine in the empire belonged to the emperor and were loaned out at their discretion. Occasionally a clan in Mongolia or the steppes would use a pack of arcanine in conquests, and in times of crisis the empire occasionally granted arcanine to other kingdoms in exchange for gold or military support, but for the most part the only tame arcanine were the property of the Chinese emperor.

Two developments around 1800 C.E. changed that. Growlithe ownership had previously been restricted by the species’ unwillingness to leave their own pack to join humans. The pokéball made it easier to capture and tame individual growlithe. But it was large scale mining operations that made full domestication possible. Growlithe evolve very slowly in the wild. However, exposure to some elementally-charged stones can lead to their evolution occurring much earlier and faster with few long-term health consequences. Growlithe realized that humans had very large numbers of fire stones and entire packs began to approach human settlements and practically beg for capture. The massive influx of captive arcanine, the temporary weakening of China, and the rise of global trade networks led to the species quickly becoming commonplace guard dogs and pets throughout the world.

The remaining wild packs tend to be made up of particularly rebellious spirits or those with bad experiences towards humans. Some are deliberately released by governments to give trainers on journeys a chance to capture a powerful and loyal friend. The Alolan pack is a mix of the two.

Physiology

Both arcanine and growlithe are classified as pure fire-types. Neither ruling is controversial.

Growlithe look like rather typical canines. Most of their body is coated in red fur with black stripes running through it. A growlithe’s stripe pattern is unique to them. Their bellies, tails, and the top of their head are coated in light brown fur.

Arcanine mostly resemble a very large growlithe. The main difference is that brown tufts of fur expand to cover most of their face as well as the backside of their legs.

The species has one of the strongest senses of smell of any pokémon species as well as an above average sense of hearing. They can track prey from two-week-old scent trails if there has not been any rain. These heightened senses compensate for their rather weak vision. Growlithe can see large shapes and some colors, but they are usually not able to identify small objects from sight alone.

Arcanine have no open flames at any point in their evolutionary line. This makes them more resistant to rain than other fire-types. They even enjoy swimming. The reason they are fire-types is that they have a series of flame sacs at the base of their neck and around their stomach and intestines. Their normal digestion process is slow and they have more capacity than most canines their size in their bowels. When needed, arcanine can radically increase the speed of digestion by physically burning all stored food. This reduces the amount of nutrients they can incorporate in exchange for fire and short-term energy. With this boost, arcanine can run up to 300 miles an hour for 20 hours straight.

Arcanine typically reach a height of six feet at the withers and a mass of 1600 pounds. They can live for 350 years in the wild and in captivity.

Behavior

Wild growlithe live in packs of ten to thirty individuals. They are fiercely territorial and will attack or kill any other canines, including other growlithe packs, that hunt inside of their territory. Growlithe packs will tolerate arcanine since the adults will sometimes share their kills with the pack. The packs are also strongly hierarchal. Each pack has a dominant male and a dominant female who demand submission from all other members of their sex. Not submitting, eating too much, or other violations of social etiquette will lead to exile. Other packs will not allow in another growlithe without the permission of both packs’ dominant pair or unless an arcanine insists upon it. Exile is effectively a death sentence for a growlithe.

The species displays aggression through growls and barks. They communicate within the pack through whistles, yapping, whines, and sneezes. Because of their poor sight growlithe do not have the elaborate body language that many other social canines do.

Growlithe hunt by having three to five growlithe chase down their prey at a time. If they get tired, another team of growlithe will take over for them and continue the chase. Flagging prey will bee torn into by the nearest growlithe. These tactics allow them to outlast anything that can’t fly (and even some things that can). It does not work on anything that growlithe cannot convince to run. This strategy is well adapted to the speed-oriented ecosystem of the plains and deserts of Central Asia. Kills are shared equally among all members, including the young, injured, and sick who cannot hunt.

Arcanine tend to be solitary in the wild outside of mating and childrearing (see Breeding). They hunt by chasing down prey and finishing them off with one or two bites. Arcanine can also get into a direct fight and win against almost everything in their home range. This is riskier than simply intimidating something until it runs so it is not the preferred strategy.

Outside of hunts arcanine and growlithe tend to lie around doing nothing. They usually live near an oasis, lake or river inside of their territory. This gives them a reliable source of water and draws prey to them. The species’ sense of smell is acute enough that they can track prey down themselves if nothing comes to them. In times of abundance, growlithe and arcanine are far more playful and will patrol their territory, pick fights with local pokémon, investigate natural and man-made structures, and go swimming. They are usually not dangerous to humans unless provoked.

Growlithe packs sleep together in a heap at night. They do not leave a sentry awake. Growlithe have virtually no natural predators in their home territory as even flygon rarely risk drawing an arcanine’s ire.

Husbandry

Growlithe and arcanine can survive on as little as 0.5% of their body weight a day in meat. They can eat up to 5% a day and they will be more active and more powerful for it. The species does not eat any plants, which eliminates some dog food as options, but some brands are still readily digestible. They still strongly prefer raw or cooked meat. Growlithe drink more water than other common canines. Many new growlithe owners make the mistake of assuming their fire-type will not need to drink water.

Growlithe can adjust quickly to captivity due to their strict wild heirarchies. They should submit fully to their trainer within a few days of capture or adoption. The process is faster and more absolute if the trainer is the same sex as them. Transgender people who are on hormone replacement therapy will be read as their identified gender due to their altered scent.

In the wild rule-breaking can mean exile and a slow death from thirst or starvation. This makes growlithe very sensitive to the obedience of social. They will typically refuse to work for or even outright attack trainers who harm or steal from other humans. The species can even be upset by the idea of battling for money as they see it as akin to attacking another human and taking their food. Cash exchanges are best done away from growlithe.

Growlithe are perfectly fine being inside of pokéballs during the day. Well-fed growlithe will still want to explore and play with their trainer around dawn and dusk. Growlithe will lose respect for their trainer if they are not allowed to sleep in their trainer’s bed at night in an imitation of their usual sleeping habits in the wild. They prefer to sleep with all other team members as well, but will sometimes make an exception for nocturnal pokémon, pokémon that do not sleep, or for pokémon that this is obviously impractical for. Growlithe are fluffy and warm but not hot, making them excellent sleeping companions.

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Wild growlithe share a community latrine. This makes them exceptionally easy to housebreak, as they just need a litter box placed near their trainer’s toilet. They will quickly figure out what to do from there.

Growlithe can be overly territorial. They will bark at or even bite any unfamiliar human who gets near their trainer’s home. They have even been known to growl at people who bump into their trainer on a crowded street. Discipline and good training can reduce this impulse.

Arcanine are not as hierarchal as growlithe are. This makes them far more difficult to train. The difficulty is only slightly offset by their respect for a trainer who got them to evolve before they naturally would have (see Evolution). Most of the above paragraphs on growlithe care also apply to arcanine. However, trainers should note that arcanine have substantially more energy than growlithe do. They will demand to play with their trainer for at least an hour a day, and they often object to being held in pokéballs for more than a few hours at a time. Arcanine will also insist on continuing to sleep alongside their trainer, even if they are now much, much larger. They are less sensitive to rule-breaking than growlithe are, although they will sometimes go too far in retaliating against anyone who threatens their trainer. This reflects their natural behavior of hunting down and killing any predators who attack growlithe.

Fully grown arcanine can be trained to wear a harness and give rides to their trainer. Their fur is not particularly hot.

Illness

Arcanine are not susceptible to many internal parasites because of the intense heat that they sometimes generate inside of their body. They can still get flea and tick bites, and they should be regularly groomed to check for them. The most threatening diseases to wild and captive arcanine in other parts of the world are rabies and canine distemper virus. All wild and captive arcanine in Alola are vaccinated against these illnesses, and any imported arcanine must also be vaccinated.

Evolution

Throughout their lifetime growlithe slowly develop larger flame sacs and more ability to control their own flames. The evolution process begins when they are extremely experienced with pyrokinesis. Evolution takes roughly three years of growth to bring a growlithe to their full size. Growlithe grow very little between their tenth birth day and evolution so any growlithe larger than the average and still growing is assumed to be evolving. In the wild growlithe typically evolve between 100 and 200 years of age.

They can evolve much, much earlier through the use of fire stones. These should be kept near the growlithe as they sleep. This means the trainer must also share a bed with a very hot rock every night. Fire resistant bedding is advised. The fire stone will stimulate the growth of the growlithe’s fire sacs as the body mistakenly believes that the growlithe itself is able to generate the fire energy and they need larger sacs to handle the flames. Evolution via fire stone takes roughly six months, as opposed to three years.

The advantage of this is that the growlithe will evolve within their trainer’s lifetime. There are several disadvantages, though.

As mentioned above (see Husbandry), arcanine are harder to keep in line than growlithe. By virtue of being much larger they also require more space and more food. Most importantly, growlithe that evolve prematurely are not yet able to safely and effectively harness the flames they can now produce. This makes any use of their fire potentially dangerous for up to two years after premature evolution. Even the most experienced of trainers will have to drop all other training paths and focus solely on their arcanine’s fire control. This process will still take several years to complete, even for professional arcanine breeders.

Battling

Arcanine are massive, have powerful flames, and can move faster than almost any other grounded pokémon. This gives them several options in battle. They can be zoners that use their speed and powerful fire attacks to keep other pokémon away. They can also be very effective rushdown attackers, using a burst of speed to close the gap and ripping into their opponent with powerful elementally infused full body tackles such as close combat, flare blitz or wild charge. They can also use thunder or fire fang and crunch to take advantage of their powerful bite. Alternatively, they can play defense. They are very large and can repel anything that gets close, or scare them off with roar. Their speed also allows them to dodge many attacks. Morning sun or rest, combined with toxic and burns, lets them outlast their opponent.

Arcanine are not the best at any of these strategies. There are bulkier pokémon with more reliable methods of recovery or attack blocking. There are better zoners and rushdown attackers. There are even better fire-types at some of these things. But there are vanishingly few pokémon that are better at all three strategies. This makes arcanine versatile, able to change up their playstyle to match the opponent or to take out particularly troublesome threats. They are used on the main team of four of the world’s Top 100 trainers.

Few island challengers have an arcanine. Their evolution takes half the length of the average island challenge lasts and they cannot usually be adopted or captured (see Acquisition). Even if a trainer did have a recently evolved arcanine, they are unlikely to be able to safely wield their fire attacks and will have to rely on their size and other elemental moves.

Growlithe function differently than arcanine in battle. They typically do not have the life experience to learn the sheer variety of moves that an old arcanine will know. Growlithe typically depend on bites, moderately powerful fire attacks, and a few utility moves such as agility or roar. They function as fairly typical rushdown pokémon, getting in close with an initial sprint and then tearing away with bites. Growlithe are strong for the first part of the island challenge, but they will be underpowered by the end of the second island.

Acquisition

Growlithe can be captured with a Class III license or purchased or adopted with a Class II license. Arcanine capture in Alola is forbidden without DNR permission. Arcanine can be adopted or purchased with a Class IV license.

Alola’s growlithe pack hunts in the coastal plains of Routes 2 and 3. They rest along the Anahula River on Route 2. They have successfully driven zorua, furfrou and rockruff into the forests, urban areas, and mountains of Melemele, respectively. Ambushing a growlithe to capture them is not recommended; the entire pack will band together to resist an unwanted capture. The best way to capture a growlithe is to camp out near the Anahula river for a few days with non-canine pokémon. Eventually a growlithe may approach and test the trainer. If they decide the trainer is worthy, they will go willingly.

Growlithe can also be purchased or adopted from most canine breeders and pokémon shelters in Alola. The Alolan government prefers to get arcanine out of the archipelago due to the disruptive effect they can have on local ecology. Aside from the occasional salamence or hydreigon, arcanine would be the most fearsome predator on Melemele.

Breeding

Arcanine are not as territorial with each other as growlithe packs are. They will often share overlapping ranges. They hunt separately. Territorial boundaries are more strictly enforced in times of scarcity. In more abundant times arcanine will sometimes cross paths and briefly socialize. Sometimes a male and female arcanine with overlapping territory will develop a respect for each other and, eventually, mate. The female has a forty-month pregnancy, during which time the male will typically guard and even hunt for his mate. Arcanine have litters of eight to twelve puppies. The arcanine pair will care for them until they reach roughly two years of age when they can begin to hunt on their own. The female arcanine will go around to every growlithe pack in the range and give one to three puppies to each pack to care for.

In captivity, a pair of arcanine can share the same trainer and space. They may eventually mate. Arcanine will trust their trainer to distribute the puppies once they are of proper age. Arcanine will grow aggressive towards their puppies if they stay on the same team for more than three years.

Relatives

There is one other documented subspecies of arcanine. C. d. laventon live in the islands of northern Japan. Their fur is actually a mineral with a similar composition to asbestos, making them highly resistant to heat and electricity. The fur also provides a measure of defense against physical attacks. To carry the extra weight the Hisuian arcanine have more developed musculature and a slightly larger size. Even with the extra muscle the Hisuian arcanine are still unable to swim very well. The nature of their fur also meant that their wardens need to have particular medicines available at all times, access to a healing pokémon, or wear a mask when around the arcanine.

By the time of Japanese colonization of Hisui the native arcanine were already declining due to shifting weather patterns and a decrease in prey. Within the next century they were driven to the brink of extinction from competition with introduced canines, hunting by farmers, and a deliberate culling campaign by the Japanese government to eliminate key pokémon allies and religious traditions of the native populations. There are now only two surviving arcanine and five growlithe. The arcanine are held in the Sekichiku Grand Safari on behalf of the Japanese government. Their offspring, born in 1952, were briefly reintroduced to Faiyāsupitto Species Survival Area in Sinnoh. Of the eight growlithe, three were lost to poaching within two years. The project was subsequently abandoned and the growlithe were split into two groups. The females live in the Enju City Zoological Park and the males were donated to Sylph, Inc. for research into potential cures for mesothelioma.