Animals that have strong bonds with humans and have have human like smarts . Like in Lindskolds Wolf series or Lackeys Valdimar series. Thanks!!!

Um...Tamora Pierce? Whatever Steve Kenson used as primary material for the Blue Rose roleplaying game.

Gayle Greeno has a series out that is similar to Lackey's only they are cat like. The series is Ghatti something.

Watership Down and the Brian Jacques books but those are just animals.

The Dragonriders of Pern series is about dragons that bond with humans.

I am sure there are a lot more but my brain is dead right now.

I really enjoyed Robin Hobb's Farseer series but you have to also read the Tawny Man series (also by Robin Hobb). It is a very complex tale of a companionship/bond between a man and a wolf that isn't always accepted or understood by others.

Mercedes Lackey's Wizard of London is excellent, one girl bonds with a parrot and the other a raven.

Robin Hobb's series Assassins Apprentice starts off with the story of Fritz; & then the Liveship traders series which seems completely different but the ending connects again with Fritz; then the Fool series whom was 1st seen in Assassin's & later in the Liveship series are a very good example of animal/human bonding. If you accept dragon's as animals then I would recommend the Anne MacCaffrey Pern (name of the planet) series which is extremely well written as well;

The Chronicles of Chrestomancy by Diane Wynn Jones

http://www.amazon.com/review/R22HEQ8D7AZ3N4/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

Here's one I just thought of!

Animist by Eve Forward 

www.amazon.com/Animist-Eve-Forward/dp/B000C4SXFS/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1

The Chronicles of Narnia have some very intelligent animals who communicate with the human characters.

If you want a book that is just about intelligent animals, the Warriors series by Erin Hunter is a really good read. Its about wild cats that live in 'clans' in a forest, so no people really involved.

Thanks I recognize some of these but others are completly new to me so I 'll go look them up!

Jennifer Roberson's Chronicles of the Cheysuli is a very good series as well. Members of a magical race bond with an animial and then they can shapeshift into that shape and converse mind to mind much like the Companions in Mercedes Lackey. In more than one case I think the animal is smarter than the bondmate LOL.

A longtime favorite of mine is"The Pig Plantagenet" by Ellen Andrews.  It has intelligent forest animals in a medieval setting who spend most of their time avoiding everything human, but some of them bond with a domesticated animal, who in turn has a relationship with a human.  Sigh, sadly, that description makes it sound far drier and less interesting than it is.  It's a really good book, honest.

It's SF rather then fantasy, but David Weber's Honor Harrington series fits the bill.  Animals (treecats) bond with humans for life.

Another SF series is Timothy Zahn's Dragonback series.  First is Dragon and Thief.  It is young adult, but very well written (as is most of Zahn's adult work).  The dragons here are an alien race that form a symbiotic relationship with a humanoid race.  One dragon, by accident, forms his bond with a human boy.  Very entertaining.

Patricia C. Wrede's Dealing with Dragons series is a good bet.  It's a YA series but is still very readable.

Maurice and his Educated Rodents has smart animals that communicate with people.  It's pretty funny.

Naomi Novik's Temeraire series has intelligent dragons that bond with humans!  It starts with His Majesty's Dragon.

I second the Robin Hobb and Patricia Wrede suggestions. Hobb is one of my all-time favorites, and it's a mature, bittersweet story. Reviewed here:  http://www.fantasyliterature.net/hobbrobin.html

Wrede is light YA, kind of Princess Bride-ish. Reviewed here: http://www.fantasyliterature.net/wredepatriciac.html

Just Started the Novak dragon stories so far i love it. And I have ordered the first  of the cat series by Hunter it looks very interesting too. I'm getting some of the others that you all have mentioned from my locol library! thanks for all of your input!!!

I'm not sure if they fall into the fantasy category instead of just fiction, but you might like the Joe Grey Mysteries series by Shirley Rousseau Murphy.

An older book that is very good although marketed as YA is The Quest for the Faradawn by Richard Ford. It's hard to find though and I'll never give up my copy! It's about how a human boy and girl, along with a group of intelligent animals, try to help the elves stop the human race from starting a nuclear war. It's kind of sad but very thought provoking and a beautifully written story.

The Spellsinger series by Alan Dean Foster. Mudge the Otter is a hoot :-)

I am reading The Unexpected Dragon by Mary Brown. It is a trilogy ( Pigs Don't Fly, Master of Many Treasures and Dragonne's Eg ). The girl in the book can communicate with animals because she wears a ring made from a unicorn horn. It  seems to be a pretty good book.