You know what I'm talking about, right?

You have three open spots by a close at hand enemy, the others being too far away to reach in a turn. You have three companions. So, you figure, you can fill in those three spots with your companions.

But no, your pet takes one spot, so one of your companions doesn't get to fight that turn.

Or even worse:

You're fighting Tengu, which have the nasty habit of attacking any of your companions that stand next to each other. So, you space your companions just so they can't attack more than one at a time.

And your pet decides to stand between two of them, so when the Tengu attack the pet, two other companions get hit.

Stupid, stupid, stupid pet!!!

I have a suggestion that would make pets more welcome in a fight. If the player could just right click on the pet's icon on the battle board to note whether to sic 'em or stay, that would be enough control over the pet. Presently the pet is in sic 'em mode whenever he is in battle. In stay mode the pet would not move in his movement phase, at the end of the round. He could only attack any enemy adjacent to him, because he didn't move. When the enemy's strength and numbers crumble, the player would be able to click on the pet's battle board icon and "let slip the dogs of war". This would make the play experience more enjoyable for the players, and it would add another layer of skill to the game. If the sic 'em or stay option works out well, maybe we could teach our "stupid summoned minions" to sic 'em or stay as well. Of course, allies would never learn even this simple stay command, but this would be a nice fix to an otherwise annoying aspect of the game.