The best bet for keeping a non-GH pet alive is going with stalker and the bear pet. The higher AR really works wonders keeping the pet alive. Then you can try to keep your foes dazed, which lowers their PEN by -4, so they'll always under-penetrate you and do little damage. One way to do this is with Griffin's Blade, which dazes foes in an AOE on crit. A seer, with high accuracy & INT and lingering echoes, can keep foes perma-dazed. Or you could build a geomancer bloodmage/stalker, as Boeroer has discussed in many other threads, and daze them with Arkemyer's Dazzling Lights. But if you go with seer you could have Aloth or a hireling mage do this for you.