New to this, thoughts on photo

[crh428]

There is something about the pic that looks almost 2D to me... Something that makes it look like it isn't real. Can't quite put my finger on it, though (probably not experienced enough)

 

[MarcusM]

Great pose, good color, and decent exposure, although it may be just slightly overexposed by a 1/2 stop or so because you are losing some contrast.

My biggest recommendation would be to tighten your shot (zoom in) on the dog to eliminate most of that background clutter. Here is an example of a recent shot of a dog I took - simple, blurred background and the focus is on the dog's face: