BoM/TWS Message Forum

Pets can be characters too. That there are no pets that are extraordinarily important to the story doesn't mean they can't be characters - just ones that can't be turned into. (Unless you go into the NCBoM, but that's another story.) They just have to be worked into.

In Will's case, since he basically becomes the person he's impersonating under a mask (provided it comes with a mind band), the grow/change can come later, but that doesn't mean he'll react in the same way that other person does when the mask is off. Perhaps he can try using the same tricks, but they might fail. Alternatively, he can attempt to make someone who's notoriously pet-averse the opposite. Perhaps he could even get a clue in how to deal with betas/duplicates/golems - he can use pets as intermediaries between them.

And it doesn't have to be Will. Perhaps a character that's pet-averse does so because it doesn't fit their image. Maybe Patterson's a softie for dogs, but he can't manifest it unless he dons a mask of someone who you'd expect to be gentler? That's another venue to consider