Nicole,
I personally like to shoot most of my pet portraits on the floor as long as there is a crane close by to help me back up . But for some of the smaller breeds and for puppies, that's not always practical. So I have an overstuffed chair and a sofa I can drag into position and drape with my background material when shooting them. I like the fact that the structure of both the chair and the sofa restrict egress points which is great for puppies that always seem to find a way to scootch off the set.

Jim