A method for approximating dark soliton solutions of the nonlinear
Schrodinger equation under the influence of perturbations is presented. The
problem is broken into an inner region, where core of the soliton resides, and
an outer region, which evolves independently of the soliton. It is shown that a
shelf develops around the soliton which propagates with speed determined by the
background intensity. Integral relations obtained from the conservation laws of
the nonlinear Schrodinger equation are used to approximate the shape of the
shelf. The analysis is developed for both constant and slowly evolving
backgrounds. A number of problems are investigated including linear and
nonlinear damping type perturbations
