[guineapig]

Attempting a yellow con mob with your animation is rarely a good idea as a chanter.
Until you have slow anything that is even con with your pet will usually eat it alive unless you nuke the hell out of it in which case you are not being very mana efficient. When I was soloing in Cruchbone when I first started I never bothered with yellow mobs.

Always consider the fact that blue con mobs, while they don't give as much exp, also leave you with much less down time.

One you have whirl till you hurl you can attempt a combination of pet tanking while you use Whirl and your AoE stun which will greatly reduce the damage your pet is taking.

You will eventually get little things to help you along the way.

Berserker strenght and Rune to absorb damage, more stuns so you can chain cast. Haste and damage shield for your pet, etc... And yes, even your AC buff helps! Don't ever be cheap when it comes to keeping your pet fully buffed.

Basically to be effective soloing with your pet you need to really use multiple aspects of your arsenal unlike with other pet classes.

Obviously using charmed pets is more powerful but depending on your level and gear it's not always an option. I can tell you that I was soloing the Aviaks in SK with my chanter all through my 20's using my animation with no issues (was my first char on the server and did not have charisma gear).