Very nice portrait and BW works really fine here Steve. I think that some selective levels adjustment in the shadows of both faces would be great. It seems that she is really happy with that cool litle dog :-)
Thanks for the comments. How can you not like a puppy face like that? I was really trying to test the IS on this lens, and tried to use the pretty strong side lighting coming in through a window. The side light makes for a lot of contrast in the image, but I usually like that in B&W photos. I thought it came out a little unconventional, and that is why I liked it. I appreciate the nice comments.