I see what you're saying; I was going by the ears and thinking the rest fell under the category of stylization. Looks more like a cat, I suppose (the side view looks a bit like the Penn State cougar), or Eugene the Jeep (I recall it at least sometimes having said name

I suppose that makes the Jeep male, but who knows what it is? It isn't quite a baby.....). The ears, if anything, are bearlike, but could fall within cat or dog pretty easily, I think. Are there bears in PI? I'd expect so, but don't know. Interesting work on the ferule. Is the guard iron then?