Hello Dee Dee

I have a small backround stand for my AB800 and I find that it works great. Really though you can use whatever you need to get the job done. You can either place it under and behind the posing table, or you can place it to one side, or you can even use a boom arm. I would only recomend that you keep the stand quite small. You don't want to be using a full size stand when your trying to get the light down low on the ground. I small stand is just much easier to work with. I have the backround stand from Alien Bee's and I love it.
You can use barndoors or honeycomb grids, you can get a similer effect from both of them. I prefer grids, but that is just me. I feel that they give a nice smooth gradation of light.
When you are shooting single animal portraits, you really only need one backround light. When you get into shooting more than one animal at a time or you are not filling the frame with the subject, you may want to use two lights. For the most part though, one light will work just fine. It just depends on what you are looking to do.
REMOTE CAPTURE. I love it. When I first started shooting in my studio, I did not use it, but now it is a staple. I shoot with canon and remote capture comes with the camera software. I am not sure what you should with and I am not sure if all the companies have this option. You run a cable from you camera to you computer ( I use laptop for this ). Within a second of shooting, the image is transfered and displayed on the computer. Not only does this help me get the shot I want, it also allows the customer to make sure that they have the same vision that I have. The lcd on the camera is useless compare to this. This is also a good solution to your second post. If you get a longer cable, you can set your laptop right up near where you are posing your animal. From the laptop, you can change your camera settings and fire off your shots. If you do shoot canon and you want to try remote capture, just let me know and I will give you detailed instructions on how to set it up.

I hope I answered your questions and I look forward to seeing more of your work.
Brian