I was given one but threw it in storage, it's more of a novelty pet to me.
I believe it's 'average' training, so sure it will be harder than 'easy' pets, many players are used too.
If it has focus passive, once unlocked that will help speed training up a lot.
It's good though from an appreciation point of view, as players get a feel for how hard some of these pets are to level. Training a "Hard" pet really can test you.
The Epic panda for example not only has no focus passive, the exotic trick (biggest trick) still doesn't give XP and the pet won't gain XP faster until you unlock the taming skill passive at Level 13. That one really is a test of patience.
My Royal dragon has the same slower "reduced" metabolic rate passive (one of the 3 passives on that pet), and I've never found a solution to unlock it, it's still at 0.00%...(I gave up looking). If someone finds out, post it here please.
Rick