I've done that one a few times on PUP, and even with the pet standing at a distance curing it still was 50/50 on actually killing it (usually due to enmity wipe causing pet to get agro for casting Dia II). This was before I got Alternator though. Now I'd just drop pet on it and grab a snack. Fortunately, the Encumbrance move is also the one you need for the task, so even if you die, you're essentially getting a free trip back to town and the exp loss is covered by the task reward.