dog pics - c & c requested

Got a few pics of my friend's dog at an Easter Egg hunt. Would appreciate any advice.

Thanks

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I'll break the ice. First one doesn't do much for me to be honest. Second one is pretty good. Seems to be pretty sharp on my iPhone. Try raising your aperture to get more of the dogs face in focus. Mostly the nose. Good job

Try minding your backgrounds more: even out of focus, these backgrounds are still motley enough to be distracting.

If these are (part of) a set, then you might like to take some time to colour match the coat colour between images. Matching the white balance should go a long way towards that.

The first is nicely captured - owners like this type of 'conformation' shot. It might be my monitor, but it looks a bit soft to me - perhaps a narrower aperture is something to aim for in this kind of 'whole dog' portrait, or take more care to be side on, so that your focal plane better catches the dog's body. Also, it can sometimes help to shoot a little looser, so that you can have a little more foreground under the feet.

The second image lacks something, to my mind. If I have a facial close up, then I try to have the dog either looking at me or in profile; to my mind, a pose like this one needs some empty space on the right, for the dog to 'look into'. If this is a crop from a larger photo, then you might like to try a different crop with some space on the right, and see how that looks.

When you are actually shooting the dog like the second image, sometimes timing is everything - if you can catch the dog looking at you, all the better. A squeaky toy can work wonders if you are in a controlled environment - so long as the dog doesn't jump you for the toy!

And as Alveric said above, attention to background is never a bad thing - although, of course, sometimes you don't have much choice.

Thank you very much for all the advice.

The second one is a part of crop. The background on the right was very distracting so I eliminated it. The first one can't be resized, that is what I got out of the camera. But, I shall definitely keep in mind to shoot a little looser. Let me play around with the WB. I shall repost in a bit. Thanks again.