Alright! Regular animals work too even if they weren't precisely shown in canon, right?

Because the two Pokemon I'm thinking about having this lady take with her (a full team would get hard to track IMO) would be a cute little stag beetle and a mink/ermine/other kind of fancy mustelid if she were to get in, but IIRC we never saw either of those in the show.

Also, if she were to bring a doll or some other visual representation of a Pokemon, am I correct in assuming that it would still look like the Pokemon and not change species?