Audino seems cuddly, supportive, and harmless. Is there anything that makes it secretly not a good companion?
It seems that your instincts were right on the money, as an audino would indeed make an excellent pet! In fact, here we have another pokémon that would be particularly well suited for training as an emotional support or service pokémon.
To begin with their size, audinos are on the medium-large size standing at three and a half feet tall and weighing nearly seventy pounds. However, as bipedal pokémon, I’m more confident in saying that they could get around in a home as easily as a short-statured human could. Now, at nearly seventy pounds, they are not particularly easy to transport; many people may have a hard time picking up an audino and carrying them around for a longer period of time. In order to get an audino places, like veterinary appointments, they will have to be trained to not wander off. Thankfully, given their friendly personalities, I would assume this won’t be a particularly difficult task.
Audinos are described by the pokédex as “kind hearted” and attuned to the condition and needs of those around them (Shield). They aren’t known to be violent, and pose little threat to humans as far as their moves go. Some moves, like Wish, even serve as a benefit to an audino’s health, as they can use it to heal themselves. So far, it seems that, like many Normal-Types, an audino would be well suited for home life. It goes beyond this, though: as I mentioned at the start of this post, this species has special potential as a service pokémon for humans with mental or physical health conditions.
Audinos have a superb sense of hearing, capable of hearing something as quiet as a “pebble rolling along over a mile away” (White, Sword), making them aware of their environment at a level exceeding most living things. Additionally, an audino can make use of the feelers on their ears to detect another creature’s heartbeat, using this information to tell how they are feeling emotionally or physically (Black, Black2/White2, X, Y, OmegaRuby, AlphaSapphire, Shield, Legends: Z-A). With proper training, an audino would excel in detecting heart problems, seizures, and other medical episodes before they occur, acting to alert their owner and keep them safe. With their ability to detect emotions, they could be particularly keyed in to when someone experiencing depression or anxiety may need additional support and comfort. In addition to these detection abilities, audinos with the Healer Ability are capable of curing effects like burns, paralysis, and poisoning for those around them. There are many cases in which audinos would be perfectly suited to support disabled or medically vulnerable humans.
The only warning I will give regarding this pokémon is that, due to their sensitive hearing, it would be wise to provide them with a quiet space if you live somewhere particularly noisy, so as to not hurt their sensitive ears! Besides this, I would say go for it! An audino would make a great companion, and they have so much potential to mutually support their human caregivers.















