It sounds like your main issue is that you want a Fighter that doesn't wear a lot of armor. Even a Barbarian wears armor. I am honestly not sure what the best solution for that would be. I don't have access to the Advanced Players Guide, but there may be something in there.
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It's funny that you posted this just now. I was thinking of Lennie Small the other day, as a concept for an Oracle of some sort. Most likely battle, but I haven't had a chance to look at anything yet to compare. So I'll toss it out here with nothing but a stray thought to base it on, for what it's worth.
Maybe a psychic warrior? (Dreamscarred Press' PF psionics material is in late beta and about to be released. Free download of the beta materials!)
I'm running a PC's cohort right now that I "see" the way I'm getting a feel for what you describe. Pasha isn't low-Int, but he's definitely a gentle giant. Or, really, half-giant as the case happens to be. He's sort of passive-aggressive and focused on grapples and unarmed strikes (and non-lethal damage).
The psywar uses Wisdom as it's casting stat, and basically it just wishes certain effects into being. There's a lot of psionic powers you can choose from, and making the fist-fighter isn't hard. No need to go for flashy stuff that might break your image of the character. Pasha can just suddenly do a burst and move faster for one round. Or he can hammer and his unarmed strikes do more damage than usual. Or he can iron grip and his grapple attempts get a bonus. Pick your powers right and it doesn't look like something a low-Int dwarf shouldn't understand or do.
Pasha incidentally is a chaotic-good ex-slave eunuch. That should give you an idea what sort of head-space he's in. He's like a big, calm bouncer.
I was going to suggest psychic warrior as well. An incarnum class (like totemist) might work, too.
Ok...this is going to be a bit weird....but stay with me.
First...pick your animal: if you like the bunny rabbits, than pick a bunny rabbit.
So, we take...a Summoner. O yes, reliant on Charisma. Craft, Handle Animal and Ride are on your skill list. So Lennie can be the Prime Material half of the soul, which doesn't have all of the marbles, with his Vorpel Bunny Rabbit of Doom doing most of the fighting.
"Don't make the bunny rabbits mad George."
In addition, you get the summoning line of spells...effectively allowing you to make plenty of "fluffies" to cuddle with at night..since hey, you are about to rest and recovery your spells anyway...and stuffed animals just don't seem to have that special ability to interact with you.
I think it has a ton of RP potential, and it doesn't really hurt your character than much, since you can augment yourself and your animal with your CHARISMA, not your intelligence. Your style of casting could be as simple as saying "I don't think so George" while you wave your hand and you cast Mage Armor. [Which is the second perk of the class, you can take Mage Armor and Shield and get yourself 18AC, before dex, feats and other goodies]
If you want to add the rage in...add a level of Barbarian for when you want to get into melee... you only need 16 levels of summoner to access your highest teir of spells, that is four other levels to play with. Barbarian will beef up your hit points, while raging you will have better strength and even more hps.
You could do a Str 14, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 8, Wis 8, Cha 16; that is a pretty decent build with only a 15 point buy.
Oh hey...did I mention that the Summoner is a spontaneous arcane caster. Perhaps a level or four of Dragon Disciple would fit as well.
So, Barbarian {Savage} 3, Summoner 13, Dragon Disciple 4. That should net you a pretty darn good strength, a reason for you to be good with animals, a reason for you to be a great crafter, make your character a decent meleer, give you a awesome bunny rabbit meleer, and I think cover most of what you are looking for.
What do you think?
+1 for summoner.
No reason to use the rabbit, if you don't like it. After all, George hung out with Lenny.
Basically he is a big dumb dwarf (int 6) that is the "gentle giant" type, somewhat like Lennie Small from Of Mice and Men. Extremely protective, and has an astounding ability at smithing even though he's dumb as a brick in most every other concept. I have a miniature that I really want to use which is a bare-chested looking all steroidal.
I'd say go Barbarian, but "refluff" the rage. Instead of getting angry, he gets "upset" and doesn't know his own strength. Sure, the Barbarian is fluffed for "Hulk Smash" but that doesn't mean you have to play it that way. I have a player who's playing a barbarian who laughs when she rages - huge muscled woman giggling as she cuts things in half. Of course, she's going for more of a scary/insane vibe, but my point is that she isn't "angry" during her rage.
The main thing is, Rage is an "altered state" that tires the character out. If you can think of a good explanation (hyper-alert when he's being protective maybe?) you can RP it any way you like.
Edit: I'd almost say Oracle of Stone (very Dwarfy and very protecty) but it doesn't sound like you're really going for a primary spellcaster here. Diddo on Summoner, even if the idea of a giant killer rabbit is pretty funny.
Zelgadas beat me to the idea, but I was going to suggest reflavouring the rage to being over excited - but upset works well, too. I think you could get away with either, depending on the circumstances.
The Invulnerable Rager archetype is not only handy, but feels like a good fit: I can picture him having a mind-boggling pain threshold, literally ignoring lesser blows.
Swordsage. Grab a suitably large weapon and go down Stone Dragon, which is pretty much "DWARF: THE MARTIAL ABILITY."
Or psychic warrior, actually. It's also a good fit.
