+1 Ulmaxes.
I also have played a few classes in Pathfinder, not just Summoning spellcasters, but others, and shockingly, to be good with something EVERYONE has to put stuff into what they want to do. Anyone can pick up a dagger, but the character who put feats and class abilities into it is much better. Any spell that has 9 (yes NINE) level variations of it IMO isn't a spell the designers intended to be on par with fireball. There are 2 fireball spells.
Summoning is a decision people make. It has never (for myself) been a way to deal damage, its about options. My current 4th level summoner most certainly has ranks in handle animal, because in older editions I used many of my summoned monsters for various tasks. They are tools, not just spells.
Hell, in 3rd edition I had a halfling wizard (on Harn) named Oz, whose life was SAVED, because he had a brown bag of tricks, and they were distracting long enough merely being extra targets. Several times. Mirror Image does the same thing, but at least this way, it can hurt back.