It's a core SMN mechanic and micromanagement is necessary. Alright, fine. I get that. What irks me is when my pet switches from Obey to Sic or from Steady to Guard without my input.
I have been playing smn since day 1 and never have i seen this happen. Once I give one of these orders, it stays in that mode until I order it into a different one.

In addition, when giving pet orders it can take 2-3 attempts
It never takes more than one attempt. However, pet actions won't activate immediately if the pet is in the middle of another action. When you order it to use one, it is queued up to happen as soon as the current action finishes (including its animation)