List of Canine Pokémon

There's a lot of dogs! I made this list after Scarlet and Violet, and those games added so many dogs. This is a list of canines but does not include foxes, which have their own list.

It's worth noting that there are long-standing arguments about whether certain Pokémon are dogs or not. By itself, this is interesting, tying into the fact that earlier generations designed Pokémon more conceptually, not really based on specific species. To reflect this, Pokémon that are technically not dogs have a yellow background. They're on the list because I wanted to be comprehensive. That, and sometimes you just want a Pokémon that looks kinda like a dog, but is not literally a dog. Explanations for them are at the bottom of the page.

Growlithe and Arcanine are based on shisa, more commonly called "foo dogs". They're technically more lion-like than dog-like. However, many people— myself included— see them as more canine than feline. (While working on this page, I ran a poll about it. My assumption was right!)

Eeveelutions are weird. If you want to assign them a specific species, they're probably most like foxes, but the truth is that they're creatures. They're fun little guys. You could call them canines, if you wanted.

Entei is part of the oft-debated Legendary Beast trio, which are sometimes called the Legendary Dogs. I think they're much more feline, with Entei being a lion, but lions… kind of look canine.

Zigzagoon & Linoone… are arguably canines. Which I found out while fact-checking myself! Japanese raccoon dogs, or tanuki, are part of the Canidae family. But they're also based on badgers, which is much more visible in their Galarian relatives. Zigzagoon is much more doglike than Linoone, but is still called a "tiny raccoon" due to tanuki not being as known in America.

Wynaut are based on a type of traditional Japanese doll, which are not dog-related at all. My justification for putting Wynaut on the list… is that Wynaut's always looked like a little poodle to me.

Riolu and Lucario seem to be based on the Egyptian god Anubis, whose head is drawn as an African wolf's. Close enough for me.

Swirlix and Slurpuff are fairy creatures based on food, more than anything else, but they also look like little dogs! Especially Slurpuff.

Type: Null and Silvally, my beloveds, are chimeras. But they have wolflike faces, and I fondly refer to them as dogs sometimes, so they go on the list.

Created	Last Updated
January 15th, 2023	February 13th, 2024