Animal Companions

[Nimonys]

Hello everybody. Studying the actions of animal companions, I wondered. If the animals that you just picked cannot use actions that are not recorded in their sheet, for example, push. Can animals derived from class features use these actions? For example, can a hunter's wolf use an athletics test to unbalance an adversary, making him vulnerable to a hunter?
A practically similar question can be asked for animal opponents. Can they use their skills in battle?
And a question about pet protection. The book says that the maximum bonus from items to defense is +2. Independent of quality? Iron armor and magic or adamantium will give the same +2?

As always, please forgive the quality of my language.

[Laran]

In my opinion, yes (change from previous thought)

"Animal companions can’t use abilities that require greater intelligence, such as Coerce or Decipher Writing, even if trained in the appropriate skill, unless they have a specialization that allows it." p214 CRB

This entry implies that Animal Companions CAN use abilities that do not require greater intelligence (Coerce has the linguistic trait). Thus, there seems to be no restriction on commanding the animal to use Shove, trip, or disarm (since they do not require explicit greater intelligence). Some DMs may require you to train the animal in actions other than the basic ones listed under Command Animal. This interpretation also makes the Bear's ability of Intimidation useful since none of the basic actions in Command Animal allow it.

The AC errata has increased to +3 the maximum item bonus to armor class