These are very nice -- I tend to be partial to low-key and these are lovely use of that technique. I find that dogs that are generally "not good with other dogs" are that way because they feel they need to protect their owner(s). Get them away from the owners and they respond to the dogs in their environment in an entirely different way.

Nice portraits Penny. As for the velvet -- I love the first shoot but keeping it clean after that is almost impossible. If the backdrop is black, the dogs will be tan or lighter; if it's white, they'll be black. It's the rule of lint .

Jim