Agreed, the pet looks kinda like a crocodile to me.
As usual, I’m not so much in a fantasy mood but with that kind of ambiance I feel like a silver dragon would look better than a gold one (everything else is bluish or whitish) at the end of her staff (and yes, bottom up, indeed). I’m not sure that detail’s color will be adjustable. 🙂
Now, if I intended to use the pic for my venerable AD&D game I’d find it pretty nice 😉