You might want to even out the defence level on him while you still can--it'll get pretty tough if you lab him every day and don't. My lab pet's so out of whack that I'd have to train him over a hundred levels before I could start training defence, and I wish I'd kept them balanced when I started so I wouldn't be in this mess.
I don't have any weapon advice, except that you should go read Cranberry's posts in the Weapon Advice sticky.
"Oh, better far to live and die/Under the brave black flag I fly/Than play a sanctimonious part/With a pirate head and a pirate heart."