This is where powers like super speed or stealth IO work really well. The pet gets seen but you dont.
Bump and Grind Bane/SoA
Kenja No Ishi Earth/Empathy Controller
Legendary Sannin Ninja/Pain Mastermind
Entoxicated Ninja/PSN Mastermind
Ninja Ryukenden Kat/WP Scrapper
Hellish Thoughts Fire/PSI Dominator
Thank You Devs for Merits!!!!
You can also slot for recharge and simply summon the pet where you want it. But yes, being sneaky is far and away the best way to leverage them. Do the patrol in Siren's Call before you outlevel it (think that happens at 30...). That'll get you a stealth temp power that is often good for a long, long time, used sparingly.
I guess they never hardcoded the pets to be in defensive mode? I guess I got too used to MM pets being able to be micro managed.
Having to run the pet into range, endangering myself seems kinda counter intuitive.