Defensive Hunter Pet Not Attacking

Maybe there is a thread on this already, or maybe this was a part of the game back in TBC and its normal, but this has been bothering me. Aren't hunter pets that are on defensive mode supposed to automatically attack your target when you attack it? My pets always just sit by my side and do nothing until the mob has run all the way to me and hit me. I was under the impression that hunter pets attacked right away in defensive mode after you've attacked a target. But instead they don't attack until the mob has actually tried to hit me. I played vanilla wow on another server and my pet would run toward the target I range attacked and it was a lot more convenient than having it sit next to me til the mob reached me. If this is a normal thing for TBC I know I can just macro in my petattack ability but it would be nice if it was automatic.

Can anyone clear this up for me? Is it a bug? Is it normal?

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Originally Posted by Kohara

Aren't hunter pets that are on defensive mode supposed to automatically attack your target when you attack it?

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No, on defensive mode your pet attack when a mob hit you. This is why there are so much macros with /petattack in them. Assist stance work in the way you want but it was later in the game.

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Originally Posted by nubseeker

No, on defensive mode your pet attack when a mob hit you. This is why there are so much macros with /petattack in them. Assist stance work in the way you want but it was later in the game.

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Yeah I mean it makes sense, its called "defensive" mode after all. However, what is confusing is that my pets on my vanilla hunter will attack as soon as I attack a target and not wait for a hit on me. I play a hunter on the vanilla Elysium server, I wonder if its a mechanic specific to that private server.

Thanks for the answer though good to get other opinions on this!