Typically I'm jammed into a tiny room, but this room (at a hotel) is larger than my studio! My seamless paper is cut down to about seven feet wide (from nine feet) and is on portable stands. I carry several kinds of plastic table skirting in case the venue doesn't supply it. The table is moved out of the way and the paper rolled out on the floor for shooting puppies. I use either Balcar or Novatron strobes (Novatrons for small setups, such as this) and also carry at least two cameras, along with release forms, a bunch of cards, and sometimes prints of one of my stock photos to give as gifts. Everything neatly fits on the 'wheelie cart' in the right corner of the room, making for easy one-man (and/or woman) operation.
Here's the killer: I charge NOTHING for a sitting fee, but in exchange, I get the club to run EVERYONE through my setup! This is how I run my animal hospital studio, and it pays off in the end.
The stereotypical "dog show pose": Dog on posing table showing why it's a great example of the breed, owner behind it, perhaps a show official and a ribbon if it's a prize winner.
I try to also get a simple "pet" shot, sans all of the pomposity of the show. Watch the film "Best in Show" and then get behind the scenes at a dog show ... and you'll realize that film is more fact than farce!
Most of the time, BTW, I don't need to bring a posing table, as they are pretty common around dog shows! Ask first, however!
Following the picture of my setup is a puppy shot done at a show. It's a wheaten colored Scottish Terrier.

Thank you for this. Very nice and simple setup.

Kenny thanks for the ideas. I really do need to get a couple good stands and umbrellas. I love that puppy picture!

How does the output of your flashes compare to that of a typical tilt head shoe mounted flash, say with a guide # of 130 or so?

The dog shown above was shot with the following settings:
1/125th, f/9, ISO 200, 70-200L IS @ 148mm
Note that the lights were bounced, and they were 400 watt-second Novatrons at just over 1/2 power.

Kenny,
nice, simple set-up but it won't quite work for Great Danes or group shots with a judge, handler, owner and co-owner.

What do you do for those types of shots where the background isn't wide enough to cover the subject(s)?

I use 12' wide by 10' high backdrops for my non-ring formals and sometimes even they aren't wide enough (I end up cloning in more backdrop). Of course, I shoot a lot of large-breed Specialties and All Breed shows with a lot of big dogs. For the Toy Specialties I shoot, your set-up is very similar to what I use with 400 W/S Alien Bees bounced off of silver umbrellas. At shows, I do very few dog-only photos.

Thanks for sharing,

Jim

Note that the paper may not look that wide in the photo, but it's just under seven feet, certainly large enough for great danes, and good sized groups:

But for REALLY large groups, etc. that will take more than even a full roll (9' wide) I simply shoot in the ring, with the background far enough away to be blurred, using my studio lights.
But three people and a large dog easily fit in front of my seven foot wide paper (although we need a full 36" table for the dane or other large dogs.)

Kenny,
I wasn't talking about informals. You can squeeze them into your setup without too much trouble (although the photo you just showed is remarkable!) but for formal stacked shots with handler and judge, it seems a bit tight.

Also, you stand Danes on a table? I can't get my show clients to stack them on a podium let alone a table. Amazing!

Jim

Really great post - thanks for sharing the lighting setup!
Love the group shot - I started L-R, ending on the goat, which made me crack up. "Doggie, kitty, awww...guinea pigs...GOAT!"

*LOVE* the photo! What a menagarie! Is that just white roll paper they are on??