What creature or artifact would you create? (Heroes IV)

The fourth installment of Heroes desperately lacks canids. That is, a dog-like race. A world without intelligent dogs is doomed to sink into lies, chaos, and betrayal. There are also too few reptiles...or almost none, since I don't consider dragons to be reptiles. There's essentially only one Hydra left.
I would add...some very large, toothed crocodiles. Semi-intelligent, very aggressive, but controllable. Their level would be somewhere between the second and third tiers, like elementals. Abilities: resilience (like zombies), because their hardened skin is very difficult to penetrate, and an attack-absorbing ability, but significantly less powerful than that of the Sea Serpent.
I would add an artifact: the Crown of the Gnoll King, which gives +200% to the Wolf Summoning and White Tiger Summoning skills. Class: relic.