You have have you pet just straight tank for you. Send him in with burnout and dd and sit back and heal him when needed.
You have use your pet simply for root. Send him in, and most likely he will root while running in. After he casts root, back him off, then nuke the monster to death.
Team fighting is the most popular. Send in pet, let him do some damage, then nuke one time. Then you move in behind mob to take some of the damage so pet can heal a bit. Then let monster take the brunt of the damage while you finish off the mob with a nuke.
On pvp servers, I find it very nice to have my mage decked out like a low level Paladin (dressed in leather) then cast an air pet. The air pet will invis, and there is a good chance that you will get picked on by someone who is not buffed with see invis. What a surprise they have when they attack you.
