The Spirit Realm

Fortunatly I always knew that my shaman pet would be more of a dot, then a pet. As my main is a mage lil dog-dog always has pet equipment on him. The interesting thing is that though many shaman ask for the weapons, belt and mask, almost all do not bother with the summoned mage plate armor, which makes a substantial difference.

Also the panther line increased dog-dogs power, and can it be used for snaring (serrated bone dirks).

If i had the pet AAs and mage weapons i would probably summon a pet. Mages are pretty rare on my server though, and there is like only two active ones in guild. =(

Other nifty things to do with a pet: get past locked doors, pull mobs from behind them or around walls.

Recently, I was helping a wizzy friend and a random chanter out in CoM. The first obstacle was the locked door where the Black Reaver spawns. So I memmed Greater Form of the Bear, shrunk myself, and poked my head thru the door to get a target. Then sending pup in to attack the mob, then pulling pup back, and, voila, the doors opened as mobs came out. Doesn't work everywhere, but useful nonetheless.

Later, there was another door in a tower on the roof that I couldn't open with this method. However, I was still able to peek behind the door, target the mob, and have pup pull him outside to kill. It was a PH and spawned another mob when it died.

I imagine I could have done the same with the Idol, but using pup this way is a bit more controlled, getting you a specific mob rather than a train. Let's see a monk try that

I solo a lot and always have dog dog with me when I do.

I usually have him with me when I'm in a group, but if he dies I don't always re-summon him.

I don't have pet hold (or any other pet AAs), so I don't take him along on raids.

So, i used the pet for the first time in months today, and actually noticed a large increase in dps. Also, the pet was doing a great job of pushing mob into wall, something that an sk can't really do. I think i might actually save 12 AAs so that my 2.0 and group haste will land on my pet. I may have seen the light. Next time i do the camp, i am going to actually bring bonechips so my sk has his pet too!

I always have pet up except for raids which I don't attend often anyway. As long as he doesn't die he is the most effecient dot we have. I tream him well with focus, SoM, SoS, FA, leopard and mage toys and in return he puts out respectable dps and makes farming low hitting dark blues much easier. I wouldn't farm lillys in seb without him.

It would be nice however if dogdog had a trick or two up its sleeve. No crit AAs, no boon type spells makes it sort of bland.