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Of course, its possible that Tolkien included a bear in TH because his children had Teddy Bears. Bears crop up in both The Father Christmas Letters (the North Polar Bear & a reference to Priscilla's bears 'The Bingos') & Mr Bliss (the Three Bears. A 'Gaffer Gamgee' also appears in Mr Bliss, btw).
This may be another reason for the appearance of bears in stories written for his children. While there are numerous 'imports' from Northern myth & Tolkien's stories we have to keep in mind that there may be a great deal in them which is there simply because it would appeal to his children. We know Tolkien was reluctant to alter an episode in the early drafts of LotR where Frodo killed one of Farmer Maggot's dogs with a stone for some time 'because Chris likes it'. I think it was Michael's fear of spiders which inspired their presence in both Roverandom & TH - in both books giant spiders appear in a terrifying situation but are defeated by the heroes.
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