Thanks Doug. The lighting set-up was an 18" beauty dish with diffusing sock (Canon 580 EXII) on camera right, a 30" white relfector with a lower powered 580 EX bouncing off it for some fill on camera left. The shot with the collar was a test shot when I was setting things up and made it somewhat easier to contorl an excitable puppy. I liked her pose and expression so I worked it up anyway.

Agree on the need for a trim. She's a couple weeks past her last grooming. I'll spruce her up to do a six month portrait. My first wife and I had a grooming buissnes so I understand your thoughts on that. That was a lot of years ago and I had to do some serious brain straining when I got the clippers out to groom her.

One thing for certain, if I were going to shoot dogs on a black background a lot I'd invest in some seamless paper. My goodness all the white hairs that turned up on that cloth was a pain to try and brush off/clone out! Thanks for your thoughts. Appreciated.