If the animals seem too smart it is worth remembering that most animals have low INT but surprisingly high WIS. Which means they're fairly perceptive with good insight and a strong ability to understand what is going on around them even if they lack the knowledge base to fully understand the context
I'm not sure awakening animals is a very druidy thing to do.
It seems like a pretty druidy thing to do to me. Remember that druid magic is divinely channeled from nature itself. Their magical effects are therefore not "unnatural" the way arcane meddling or necromancy would be. A druid who chooses to awaken a squirrel is giving them a precious gift from nature itself to bestow them with reason beyond their normal capacity so they might better understand the druid's needs and, by extension, the needs of nature as a whole.
