No, hadn't considered tartan, for all the reasons.

Jim if you do buy some plaid and do some test shots, could you post some here - whatever the results are like.

Next week I'm taking candid shots at a Scottish Heritage Dogs and Horses Show. It would be great to see any dog shots with plaid backdrop or table just to see how it looks before I go off to the fabric store myself this week (not that I had considered it til I read you post).