Can I get Aela the Huntress to use the bow I give her?

Is there any way I can get Aela to upgrade her bow? I've managed to get her to use the armor and melee weapon I give her, although she does sit around the house in her underwear now and I need to take/give her something back to get her to redress. She just keeps using the same standard bow she always did.

I didn't see anything I could take from her nor anything that I could 'buy' from her store.

thanks.

Solution 1:

See Equipment AI bug (bows).

Experiment with different bows and arrows. I can get Jenassa to use a Glass bow and Glass arrows. If she runs out of arrows she reverts to her standard bow. Since I rarely have enough Glass arrows for her, I give her a large stack of Iron arrows.

Also keep in mind that the follower is oblivious to your Smithing upgrades. The follower only looks at the base damage of the equipment to decide which is better.