>>54186723I mean, you can in Let's Go.
Both with the Cursor, but you can also use the touchscreen in Handheld Mode. Not only that, but there's a mechanic where if you rub Eevee or Pikachu's hair with two fingers in certain patterns you can change their hairstyle. No reason why they couldn't have done it in the newer games, guess they thought using the joycons to control toys/tools was better but they could have had petting as another feature.
