How do I use the Wood Elf's 'Command Animal' effectively?

I have chosen to be a Wood Elf and was looking forward to the command animal skill they have. However I fail to see how it is a valuable asset as all it does is create a static, uncontrollable meat shield.

Is there something I am missing?

What is a good situation to be using this skill in?

In general, all of the short-duration, uncontrollable summons/commands are incredibly useful precisely because they are on-demand meat shields: having the enemy attack something else while you finish them off is pretty useful, particularly if you and your followers aren't cutting it. Strength in numbers and all that.

But Command Animal is particularly effective for two reasons:

• It affects nearly every animal in the game, and boy there are a lot of animals. You'll be hard pressed not to find a place outdoors where you can't use it.

• When fighting a group of animals, it takes one of them out of the picture in addition to helping you attack the rest. So if it's 3 vs. 1 against you, commanding an animal makes it a fair fight.

• It's a decent substitute for the Animal Allegiance shout, so if you were planning on using it, it frees up your shout slot for something else.

Playing around with summons might not be your play-style: even conjuration isn't for everyone. But if you're looking for a way to manipulate fights to your advantage instead of sneaking around or straight up attacking, Command Animal is a great racial ability.

I haven't used it much on my Wood Elf but one time it helped me beat a Master Vampire.

It still makes no sense to me. The Master Vampire hit really hard, one power attack and I was dead. There were a few wolves that were freed from cages. I could kill the wolves easily, and the wolves wouldn't hurt me much.

After retrying this fight twenty times or so (each time killing the wolves before taking on the Vampires), I tried Command Animal on one of the wolves.

The wolf chewed the Master Vampire's ass enough to make it kneel to the floor that I only had to finish it. Go figure!