> If you give a pet a shield and it dies, does the shield disappear?

Yep...anything you give to a pet is lost when it dies. I've heard that
if _you_ kill the pet though, you can reclaim the items. This was true in
beta, might not be true now.

> Is it true that pets get a full share of experience, as if they're a party
> member?

If you are playing alone, yes, they will take a chunk of experience. If
you are in a group, the pet will only take experience if it makes the
killing blow. So just make sure you do a /pet back off before that point.

Valdus