This image certainly does meet the Challenge and you were well recognized for that. Cute dogs and there's the cheese!
I like the red background but would make just one suggestion. If you could find a drape of a similar material to use instead of the sofa cushions, it would make this image look much more professional.
Then, while those dogs do pose very nicely, if you could get them to be both interested in the cheese and show off more of their cute faces, it would be another plus.
Finally, in composition, you have cropped off just a little of the dog on the right's tail. It is usually best to either have the full figure of a model, or else a deliberate crop that shows off some feature, like a face. (I can see this as a cropped pic with just both dog's heads concentrated on the cheese, for example.)
I've enjoyed the opportunity to look at this cute image again. I wish you the best of luck in future DPC Challenges.
Thanks for taking a pet shot that made me smile. Wish you had been able to catch more eyes, but it looks like they are too busy. Is that a Wisconsin cheesehead hat? Did you "spike" the cheese?
Composition: 6, Composition isn't bad overall
Technical: 7, Good exposure, depth of field
Appeal: 6, Not overly appealing, after all, it's been slobbered on by dogs :)
Challenge: 6, Made me smile, and there's cheese
Overall Calculated Average Score: 6