Druid pets at high levels

[Balthazar]

I main a 56 druid and I've been thinking about geeking out a pet with a tola robe, -mr gear, savage spirit etc. and just letting it wreck blues. The rat maze in PoM seems like a good place to do this as a CR would be easy without mobs KOS. My question is, will giving an animal pet a torch or 2 rusty weapons enable it to quad? I've heard conflicting information on if animals will hold a weapon. Anyone know for sure?