• R/B
• G/S
• R/S
• D/P
• Strategy
• Moves

Arcanine

This works decently as a starter because it immediately threatens common Sleep starters such as Jynx, Exeggutor and Venusaur. Body Slam is good for getting paralyzes on switch-ins. Hyper Beam works well with his high attack, while Mimic, the more recommendable option, can occasionally help him with his limited movepool. Reflect is nice to give it more staying power, even if it still has to run away from things such as Rhydon and Golem.

Other Options

Agility is fine if you get paralyzed, but usually there's not much time to use it. Flamethrower is fine if you don't like the accuracy of Fire Blast, but Fire Blast should work better overall since it has more power, which is necessary due to Arcanine's mediocre Special. You could use Dig, but it probably won't work unless your opponent is lacking options after a few of his Pokémon have been taken down, since it's very predictable.

Opinion

With his good stats and terrible movepool, it has the same problem as many other Fire-types. Arcanine can do some damage and work alright as a surprise starter, but it's easily countered.

Counters

Arcanine will fall to Rhydon and Golem, but getting a burn on them is nice. If you still have enough health when that happens, you can switch out and save Arcanine for later. If you get a Reflect in, it is possible to beat Tauros, with some luck of course, but luck doesn't occur too often against Tauros. Surfing Starmies will also get rid of Arcanine, as will Lapras (and for what it's worth, any STAB Surf will pack a punch). Many things can also switch in fairly comfortably, like Snorlax and Dragonite, thanks to good HP in Snorlax's case, and good typing in Dragonite's case (Dragon resists Fire).