Druid animal companions

[rs2excelsior]

So, a rule question regarding Druids...

By the rules for the Druid class, a Druid can teach their animal companion additional "tricks," and gets a +4 bonus to Handle Animal checks made for these tricks. My question is, what happens when this roll fails? In some cases it's obvious, like with the "Down" trick--the animal simply continues attacking. But what about near the beginning of combat? I ruled that I'd look at a couple of reasonable actions for the animal, based on the situation, then roll to see which one it took. Are there any guidelines for this, or is it purely up to the DM to determine what the animal does?

[Elricaltovilla]

There aren't really any guidelines beyond "The animal doesn't do what you tell it to." Its pretty much up to the DM how the animal will react.

[Deaxsa]

Granted, in some cases it's completely reasonable to fail at commanding the animal, and then have the animal do that thing anyway. For instance,commanding your animal to protect someone it already likes.