Hi Twillis, You have a pretty good imagination and you should carry through with the idea with the robot, it would be amusing. My thoughts for your texture - I would not use reflective texturing exclusively. If you used reflective, have it on the top side of the robot and a matte texture on the lower half. And as for the lighting problem, first get the photo [that you wish to edit]of your dog before deciding on the placement of the light. The shadows in the photograph will tell you where to place the light. Big Congrats on the new home. Mike