Druid - adding higher level animal companion

[edgelett]

Hi all,

My druid is lvl 8 and about to hit lvl 9 and sadly my wolf animal companion died due to a fireball and a failed saving throw.

I want to take a dire wolf companion and when I read the players handbook it says the dire wolf is effectively 6 levels lower (level -6)
I removed my old companion and added a dire wolf, and then levelled up to level 9. I should mention I have one level of Animal Lord (wolf) prestige class, and according to the Complete Adventurer, as I've taken a companion of the wolf class then my whole level (9) should count rather than my druid level (8) for determining my animal companion's levels.

But looking at my companion in hero lab, it's saying level 1-6 Dire Wolf and indicates it 'starts' with 6 hit die.
Shouldn't it be a 3rd level dire wolf since i'm level 9?
and therefore shouldn't it have an extra 2 hit die, higher AC etc?

is it an issue with the dire wolf or possibly an issue with Animal Lord?

Any input would be great thanks.