Silly question; Can you use summon natures ally to summon your animal companion ?
No. You can't call specific creatures with summon spells until you start getting into Planar binding and True Names and stuff like that.
yeah, I fugured, been all over the boards trying to find a way but its all 9th level casting stuff...eh O well.
Its not quite what you're asking for, but perhaps you could make your ideas work with a companion figurine.
Also, with your GM's approval you could use the magic item creation rules to make a version of a Bracelet of Friends that didn't consume it's charm. They you could just put the charm on your animal companion's collar.