Hey Dee Dee,
Thank you for the comments. I was quite pleased that I was able to nail the exposures as well as I did. Chanthee came with me for the shoot and I used her as a test subject before bringing the dog in. I was amazed that on the first shot that I had zero shadow coming down on the backdrop.
The trick about shooting on location all of the time is that it is really hard to get the light perfect...different folks have different height cielings, some are sloped, etc. This worked out perfectly.
Based upon the feedback I have received, I have played with the contrast and kicked it up a bit. I agree that he looks better.
James