Another possible animal you may be talking about is the fantasy, Dire wolf. That wolf is commonly mentioned in D&D as well as many other games and books. This fantasy Dire wolf is nothing like the actual dire wolf, besides its wolfness. The actual dire wolf was not a spawn of evil or some huge wolf ridden by goblins. The real thing was just a big wolf.
it was a wolf that was to the normal wolf what the tiger is to the lion bigger stronger faster lonlier