Pokedog guide

Hello, Poketrainers from around the world! Have you ever wondered if you can play Pokemon using only puppies in your team? No? Oh, well, anyway, this guide will go over all the Pokemon generations and look at what good boys and girls are available for you to catch in each one. Aside from just dogs, we'll also include any sort of canine, like wolves, foxes, hyenas, coyotes, jackals, and... Zigzagoon. More on that when we get there. 

We'll also go over only the main 9 entries in the series and Legends Arceus, otherwise this guide would be as long as a potential evolution of Dudunsparce. For the remakes, the mons available are usually the ones from their original counterparts, with new ones being obtainable only post-game for the most part. Speaking of, we'll also only take into account Pokemon that can be obtained before beating the Elite 4 and Champion. Remember, we want to be able to play the game using only those Pokemon, not just add them to our collection. Finally, we'll only refer to the final evolution of each Pokemon.

Without further ado, let's get into it!

The Eevee Issue

Before we get into the games proper, we need to discuss Eevee. While it clearly has foxy elements (NOT LIKE THAT!), former Pokemon designer and creator of Eevee, Motofumi Fujiwara, said that it's not based on any specific animal and tha it has a few cat-like elements as well. That said, we're keeping Eevee and its evolution in the running, and that's because of Type coverage.

Without Eevee, we'd have no access to Grass, Ice (barring a regional Pokemon) and Water. That doesn't sound so bad, until you realize there's absolutely NO Bug, Dragon, Flying, Ground, or Poison dog Pokemon. The only way to get coverage for those types is Silvally, a Legendary that's only obtainable in Gens VII and VIII, and only after becoming Champion, so we'll ignore him. Even then, Sivally can barely count as a canine.

So, yeah, almost half the pool would be unavailable without Eevee, and, as we'll soon see, a lot of the other Types are very limites as well. As such, we're keeping the Eeveelutions. With this out of the way, let's go to Kanto!

Red, Blue, and Yellow

I'll just go ahead and say it: You can't really make a dog-only team in Gen 1. You only have 4 types to work with: Electric, Fire, Normal, and Water. Aside from Fire, all of those types are provided by Eevee. Depending on the version of the game you're playing, you have access to Ninetails in Blue and Yellow, Growlithe in Red and Yellow, and Eevee, Vaporeon, Jolteon and Flareon in any of them.

Things get even worse when looking at when those Pokemon are available. Growlithe/Vulpix can only be caught in Routes 7 and 8, which are about halfway through the game. You can get Eevee in the Celadon Condominiums, but there's only one of them, so if you evolve it into Jolteon or Vaoperon (doesn't make sense to go into Flareon), you'll lose access to the other two types.

So the only way to play the game with only canines is to either play it as normal or solo with one of the starters until you can catch a Vulpix/Growlithe, then dump the rest of your team and start grinding. And even then, you'll only be able to have access to 5 identical fire pokemon and an Eeveelution. That doesn't sound like a fun time, so Gen 1 is a no for this challenge.

Gold, Silver and Crystal

• Smeargle - Ruins of Alph
• Eevee - Goldenrod City(?)
• Snubull - Route 38 (GS); Routes 34, 35 (C)
• Vulpix/Growlithe - Routes 36, 37
• Eevee - Goldenrod City(?)
• Houndour - Route 7, post-game

Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald

• Poochyena - Routes 101, 102, 103
• Zigzagoon - All over the place
• Electrike - Route 110
• Absol - Route 120
• Vulpix - Mt. Pyre

Start of the Game

Alright, let's talk about Zigzagoon. The name would make you believe he's racoon, which are part of the procyonid family, and are not canines. However, Zigzagoon is actually based on the Nyctereutes viverrinus, a.k.a. the Japanese racoon dog, which is part of the canine family, and  thus eligible for a dog-only run. Which is great, because Zigzaggon is present in half the mainline games that came out after its introduction, and it's present in the early routes, making out doglockes possible. Unfortunately, it's a very weak Pokemon, with only 240 total base stats.

Things get a little complicated with Linoone, which is a cross between a badger and a weasel, so it's certainly NOT a canine. This will have to come down to how each player wants to go about it. You could stick with Zigzagoon and just not evolve it, but that's going to make your run fairly difficult, as the evolution into Linoone almost doubles the Mon's base stats to 420. The type effectiveness is not great, either, as both Pokemon are Normal.

The RSE games offer another early-game companion in Poochyena, who has the Dark type, giving you advantage over more types than Zigzagoon's Normal (but also more weaknesses). It's still very weak, though, with 220 base stats, while its evolution, Mightyena, only goes up to 420. Speaking of, Poochyena evolves two levels earlier than Zigzagoon, at 18 and 20 respectively, and Mightyena is clearly a canine, unlike Linoone. Both Zigzagoon and Poochyena can be found on Route 101, as you leave the first town.

First and Second Gym

The first gym of the game is a Rock Gym, which should be fine, as your Zigzagoon takes half damage from these types of attacks. It's going to be a 2vs fight against the Gym Leader, Roxxane, who has a Geodude and a Nosepass. In the Emerald version, she has and extra Geodude, so you might want to overlevel for this one.

The second gym... is likely a run killer. It's a fighting gym, with both Poochyena and Zigzagoon being disadvantaged against this type. You'll really want to grind, and potentially evolve, your mons for this fight, or you won't be able to get past Brawly's Machop and Makuhita. The Emerald version adds Meditite (at least Poochyena is immune to its Psychic attacks), making a difficult fight even harder.

Electrike and the Third Gym

If you manage to survive the Fighting Gym, you'll eventually arrive at Route 110, where you'll be able to catch Electrike, who should quickly grow up into a Manectric. This is going to add the Electric type to our roster, which should prove very useful in the coming Gym Battles.

Unfortunately, it won't be that useful in the next Gym, which is Electric. At this point, all your Pokemon should be evolved (except Zigzagoon, depending on your play-style), and all of them are neutral towards the Gym Pokemon, except Manectric, who is both resistant and deals half damage to your oppnent.

The gym leader is Wattson (enjoying the puns yet?), who has a Magnemite, a Voltorb, and a Magneton. The Emerald version swaps out the Magnemite and adds Electrike and Manectric to the fight. 

Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Gyms

This is going to be your team composition going into the next 3 gyms, and there's not much you can do to it except add duplicates. Here's a quick rundown of what's ahead:

• The Fire Gym, lead by Flannery with two Slugmas and a Torkoal.
  • In Emerald, replaces a Slugma with a Numel and a Camerupt.
• The Normal Gym, led by Norman with two Slakings and a Vigoroth.
  • In Emerald, replaces one Slaking with Spinda and Linoone.
• The Fying Gym, lead by Winona with Swellow, Pelipper, Skarmory, and Altaria.
  • In Emerald, replaces Swellow with Swaplu and Tropius.

Diamond, Pearl, Platinum

• Zigzagoon - Route 202
• Electrike - Valley Windworks
• Snubbull - Route 209
• Smeargle - Route 212
• Houndoom - Route 215 (Pearl)
• Absol - Route 213
• Riolu - Canalave City -> Iron Island
• Mightyena - Route 214 and 215 (Diamond)
• Houndour - Valor Lake (Platinum)
• Poochyena - Route 214 and 215 (Platinum)
• Eevee - Hearthome City (after National Dex)

Black (2) and White (2)

• Riolu - Floccesy Ranch (B2W2, early), Challenger's Cave (BW, too late)
• Lilipup - Floccesy Ranch (B2W2, early), Routes 1, 2, 3 (post-game)
• Growlithe - Virbank Complex (B2W2)
• Eevee - Castelia Park (B2W2)
• Smeargle - Route 5 (BW)
• Zoura - Route 5 (B2W2)
• Houndour - Route 9 (B)
• Poochyena - Route 9 (W)
• Absol - Routes 13 and 14 (B2W2)

X & Y

• Fennekin - Starter
• Zigzagoon - Route 2
• Furfrou - Route 5
• Eevee - Campherier Town (hotel in-game trade), Route 10
• Smeargle - Route 7
• Swirlix - Route 7 (X), post-game (XY)
• Absol - Route 10
• Snubull - Route 10
• Houndour - Route 10 (X)
• Electrike - Route 10 (Y)
• Mightyena - Route 15
• Riolu - Route 22 (real late, after all gyms)
• Zororak - Route 20 (late)

(Ultra) Sun & (Ultra) Moon

• Zorua - Trainers' School (USUM, check how early you can get it)
• Rockruff - Route 1 (USUM), Ten Carat Hill
• Growlithe - Route 2
• Smeargle - Route 2
• Furfrou - Route 2, Ancient Poni Path, Hau'oli City, Poni Wilds (USUM)
• Eevee - Paniola Ranch, Routes 4 and 6
• Lilipup - Routes 4, 5 and 6
• Houndour - Route 10 (X)
• Grabull - Poni Wilds, Ancient Poni Path or later
• Vulpix (Alolan) - Tapu Village (S/US)
• Absol - Tapu Village
• Electrike - Poke Pelago (post-game?)

Sword and Shield

• Vulpix - Route 3
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