Improving my lighting skills

On my S.W.O.T from the start of this module I talked about my poor lighting skills. I have finally decided to do something about this. It is the Easter holidays and I have decided to loan a lighting kit from college. Here are my outcomes;

I have found lighting to be a nightmare in the past but I think this is because working with animals is extremely hard. Animals move around which means your lighting can be perfect to begin with but your results show all the negatives (extremely light patches, shadows or too much darkness). I ended up moving the lights around several times. I think it would help a lot more if I had an assistant to keep the dogs occupied whilst I deal with the technical aspects.
Although I worked in a small space and had no assistant I think I improved my lighting skills. I was not lazy during the shoot and moved the lights whenever they were needed. I did not rely on my photoshop skills to change the background. I problem solved through out the shoot by using materials around me to keep the dogs entertained and to change the background.