Hearth Bears

Hey guys,

    here's a new critter I came up with tonight.  It's a domesticated
bear for the dwarves, which they keep as a kind of 'hunting dog'.
Anyways, let me know what you think! :)

Hearth Bear
Medium-Size Animal
Hit Dice:  3d8+9 (22 hp)
Initiative:  +2 (Dex)
Speed:   40 ft.
AC:   15 (+2 Dex, +3 Natural)
Attacks:  2 claws +4 melee, bite -1 melee
Damage:   Claw 1d4 +2, bite 2d4 +1
Face/Reach:  5 ft. by 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Improved Grab
Special Qualities: Scent
Saves:   Fort +6, Ref +5, Will +2
Abilities:  Str 15, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
Skills:   Listen +4, Spot +7
Climate/Terrain: Arctic to sub-tropical mountains and hills
Organization:  Solitary or pair
Challenge Rating: 2
Treasure:  None
Alignment:  Always Neutral
Advancement:  4-6 HD (Medium)

 As humans have domesticated the dog, so too have the dwarves domesticated the bear.  
The hearth bear is the end result of countless generations of selective breeding.  The dwarves
have created about two dozen different breeds of hearth bears, which can be just as varied as 
domesticated dogs.  The dominant breeds are about three feet tall at the shoulder, about as 
large as a large dog, though much stockier.  Hide color ranges from black, blond, brown, white, 
and a host in-between.
 Hearth bears are omnivores and surprisingly gentle creatures.  Specialized breeds for 
hunting, guarding, and even racing were bred by the dwarves.  Ever protective of their children, 
dwarves bred into the hearth bears the instinct to protect dwarven children.  Legends of wild 
hearth bears raising human children in the wilds are common in some frontiers.

Combat
Hearth bears are trained for war.  They can stand on their hind legs to fight from as if they 
were bipedal creatures.  They cannot wield weapons of any sort but fight with their claws and 
teeth.  Dwarves unleash packs of heart bears to hunt down foes that attempt to escape battle or 
otherwise bolster dwarven ranks.  

In the Spheres
 A typical dwarven citadel will have at least a pair of hearth bears for every fifty 
dwarves, often more.  The dwarves are extremely protective of their hearth bears, such that it 
is a hanging offense to sell a hearth bear to anyone other than a dwarf.  Nevertheless, 
smugglers and thieves have introduced the hearth bears to ports all over the Known Spheres, 
though they remain rare beyond dwarven realms.

Adam