I once had an elf character with a pet transparent snow leopard. In my favorite book series, there is a race of people who mentally bond with falcons. In some other favorites, there is a family with children who can see through the eyes of their pet wolves. I am endlessly amused that there is a RPG that allows druids to have pet velociraptors (seriously, it's right in the core handbook). In just about every fantasy setting, your best mode of transportation is a horse.
Pets are fun. They can be cute and cuddly or fierce companions in battle, mundane or exotic, realistic or fictitious, and they can all add a little something extra to your role play. But how do you play one? As far as emotes go, just be creative. I know that most games don't let you just plug names in there, but generally I go with "/e watches in awe as Betty, his faithful pet rhinoceros, sniffs a rose bush", but "/e 's pet rhinoceros Betty picks up a snake that was hiding under the rose bush with her mouth" or "/e | Betty the rhinoceros plays with the snake like a cat would play with ribbon" would also work.
Alright, so you know how to say what your pet is doing, but what is your pet doing? What is it interacting with, what's its personality, does it have a favorite teddy bear? But that would be putting words in your mouth. That doesn't teach you anything. Your pet can do whatever the heck you want it to do. I could have our brave hero Felodius ride into battle on Betty the Trusty War Rhino whenever I damn well please, but that doesn't make it believable. No, to play a realistic pet all you have to do is think about a few things.
- Food: Pets eat things. Which things depends on your pet. Obvious, right? Well, most of the time. If you have some odd pet like a pygmy mouse-lion you might have to look that up. Regardless of what it is, if you're traveling with said animal you had better carry food for them or they're going to starve. Pets un-eat things too, by which I mean both ends. Who takes care of that? Your character, a stable hand, a lowly servant? You don't have to overtly mention that in your RP (please don't), but if you happen to have a cat and you're describing your house, a litter box will probably be there.
- Stuff: Anyone who owns a pet knows what I mean. You don't just own a cat, you own a litter box, kitty toys, kevlar gloves for bathing it, a little bed, a light saber, and maybe a brush. Pets will also affect your character's stuff. Cats and dogs destroy your furniture, birds crap on everything, snakes like to hide under your couch pillow when you least expect it, Betty...does whatever rhinos do. I don't know anything about rhinos. You will also have stuff from your pets lying all over the place. Fur, feathers, headless mice, etc.. I can tell you first hand how difficult it is to keep fur off your clothing. If your character has a furry pet, his friends will know.
- Maintenance: Your pet will occasionally need to be washed, it might need a healer of some sort to attend to any injuries or illnesses, and it will certainly need to be snuggled and loved every now and then. Different pets require different amounts of maintenance, but they all need some. Horses need their hooves cleaned sometimes, and they also new horseshoes every now and then. If you don't want your expensive pet parrot to fly off, you'll need to have its feathers clipped. If these things don't happen, mayhem can ensue. The mayhem could make for an interesting thing to throw into a conversation ("Man, the stable boy forgot to polish Betty's horn again this week, and she is pissed.") or you could just leave the maintenance implied, but I'm offering this for possibilities. You can decide what to do with them.
- Training: If you want your pet to do any sort of trick, it will need to be trained. For many breeds of dogs, the first trick they learn is not to bite people and they learn it only if you let them be smothered by people (with love, not pillows) while they're puppies. I can only imagine that this is true with other animals, especially if they tend to be aggressive. Horses have to be trained for riding, and they definitely have to be trained not to panic when you ride them into battle. If you want any animal to come here, sit, stay, heel, not pee on your leg, or chew on your neighbor, you have to teach it to do these things.
There are many more things you could take into consideration, but those are the basics. Honestly, they will probably only exist as background, but they should give you a basis for actions and interactions your pets will have. Maybe you've got this awesome mastiff but it was never introduced to people as a puppy so you're in a constant struggle to keep it from eating your leg. Maybe you're sick of having horse tack everywhere and you're trying to save up money for a decent stable. Maybe your war rhino is trying to headbutt the walls of your house. Or maybe you have a loyal and trusting pet owl who kindly rips out the eyes of your enemies. Whatever you choose, I deem thee now prepared.
P.S. The wikipedia article on rhinos has a picture of a sculpture of one with a saddle on its back. Do people actually ride these things?
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