I have tried a few different pets, but thus far I don't find many of them actually useful. The canines aren't too bad, but they seem to be the most prone to bump into you when you're trying to make arrow shots, etc. It's almost like they have an OCD disposition to sniff tail or something.

I recently came across the Dwarven sphere automaton. At first I was memorized by the way it transformed all the time, but eventually found that clockwork clanking to be a bit loud and the sphere didn't do much damage against enemies (my character's at level 67). On first impression, the Dwarven sphere automaton is more of a blingy transformer than anything.

I haven't tried the frost armour troll, but looking at UESP wiki, their level looks rather low like the rest of them.

Short of modding, anyone know a way to beef up pet followers?

Still, I guess my favourite pet follower so far would have to be the Steadfast Dwarven Sphere

What's your favourite/ best/ most useful, non-NPC pet follower in the vanilla game of Skyrim? (Including DLCs)