I didn't like the pet hotbar, and still don't, really, but I got used to it. I just think of it as this:
Pet Hotbar = R1 + NOTHING
Every other hotbar is R1 + another button.
It sounds like you're used to hitting R1 multiple times to switch bars? Or not using all extended hotbars?
I have my bars set out pretty logically. R1+X is my base bar. Right side is offensive, left side is defensive. I use WXHB and put my longer cooldowns or lesser-cast spells on those. So my left hotbar has stuff like Lightspeed, Synastry, Time Dilation (as an AST). Then I also have the R2>L2 and L2>R2 double holds as things I use very rarely or don't need to see the cooldowns for. Again, right (R2>L2) is offensive and left (L2>R2 is defensive). Right is stuff like DoT spells with no cooldown. Left is all my potions. As a result, the only hotbars I move between regularly are the pet bar and R1+X. I occasionally use R1+Triangle, which has super-rare casts, mostly, plus a couple others. It has Protect, Stoneskin, Limit Break, as well as Raise and Instant Raise (Swiftcast macro). Basically impossible to forget which I should be going to :).
