Critter HD increase and animal intelligence - couple of questions

[Zarius]

So, I've got a mount that just got an upgrade. It's now got 4 HD over its base, so it gets a stat point. From my understanding, an int of 3 is a critical definitive marker, dividing beast and intelligent creatures.

~If my mount has an int of 2 already, am I allowed to plop my upgrade point in to
~If I am, and opt to, does my mount actually learn a language? (I realize it can't SPEAK without Awakening it.)
~Would it still need to have Handle Animal used to make it do things it's not trained for, or would I still need to teach it tricks?

[Zarius]

The last one is because I have a Familiar, and I understand that the rules for a Familiar's intelligence is different than a mount.

[Moonclanger]

I believe the answer is yes to all of the above.

You can increase its INT to 3, it does thereby learn a language (What's that, Lassie? Timmy's fallen down the well?), but it's still an animal, so Handle Animal still applies.

[blahpers]

1. Yes.
2. Yes.
3. Yes.

Source: Paizo Blog: Monkey See, Monkey Do? An FAQ on Intelligent Animals

[Moonclanger]

I knew it had been covered some on the Paizo site. I just couldn't remember where.

[Melkiador]

You'd think they'd have printed that in some book by now. Personally, I'd prefer if they'd have just gone with a simpler reading of the rules and capped animals at 2 intelligence. Abilities that explicitly increase an animal's intelligence would be specific vs the general case and would still work.