I'm looking for a series of short stories about an intelligent bear (or species of such) bred to fight an alien beast the size of a locomotive. I recall only one story that featured a pack of bumbling, inept gangsters from Earth who of course underestimate "dat beah" and end up neatly in custody.
I believe that these were published in Analog magazine during the late sixties but it could have been Galaxy or F&SF, perhaps somewhat earlier.
The action as I recall took place on a colony world, not Earth.
