- my initial charm wears off to soon for my pet to make it to the
target to attack, so I have to redo the entire charm, get close to pet, tell
it to attack etc.

Get ahead of your charm's target. Turn around and reapply the charm, that
way regardless of whether it's charmed or not, your thrall is always running
towards you. Just make sure you've got Selo's going in the background so
you can back off. After a couple of hits, and once the charm wears off,
both mobs will come after you, usually side by side so that when you reapply
the charm, your pet will go back to beating on the other without having to
chase it.

- both critters run at me, the pet is behind the target and the target
keeps running at me instead of turning to fight my pet

Switch targets and charm the closest. While the two are beating on each
other, maneouver yourself into a better position to choose which mob you
favour.

- targeting in general. F8 targets the closest hostile, but what if
both are uncharmed?

I generally charm the mob with the greatest health and the greatest chance
to survive the fight. You could try using one of the F9 views to more
easily pick your targets, as I often find that more accurate than in first
person view.

Kyrisha