Looky at my sig, bveen running around with a dragonhawk since level 67 and traded that one in for a Bloodfalcon. Love it for grinding, he can tank multiple mobs (no I still can't multishot) but if I heal him they dont come straight for me.
I used him in instances but it makes little since as his big thing is aoe-cone firebreath, therfore I dont take him into instances anymore, if I need DPS I take my owl, and squicshy saving piggie goes into rougher instances