A D&D questions about Animal Companions...?

Question

The character has an animal companion of my own making.
It's a magical beast (even before becoming an animal companion) and I was planning on giving it an Intelligence of at least 3, but no higher then 6...
The creature can't speak it, but can understand Common just fine. Vice versa, the character (also of my own creation) can of course speak Common, but can also speak with animals at will. That, along with the Intelligence score, causes it to act less like an 'animal' companion and more like a regular companion.
My question is this... would it be redundant to assign the animal companion tricks?

Answer 1

The proposal you are suggesting goes against the rules as outlined in the DMG on page 205. :The animal is still and animal. It's not a magical beast, as a familiar or a paladin's mount is. While it may have learned some tricks, it's still no more intelligent than any other animal of its kind, and it retains all beastial instincts."

So what you are espousing is an intelilgent follower should be reated as such and you would get that through gaining a cohort of some sort.