Wow! This is a breathtaking shot, and of my favorite breed of dog as well! (I breed and show them in AKC conformation competition.) It really captures the beauty of the dog and the emotion. Love it!!! =)
Well again I hit one of your shots. Like I said last time I see you know enough about photography I won´t bother commeting on technical issues, wich are pretty much none with this photo. I personally would have preferred it if the entire ear was in the frame cause my eye is drawn to that part of the photo due to your composition but that´s just me.
I also don´t really agree with the camera settings, I would have gone with a 1/640th shutterspeed or even slower and rely on the IS to help out, use a lower iso as even in this web size resolution there is some unneccesary noise in the shot and since you had all that light to play with I don´t agree with the high iso but, again, that´s just my opinion.
Other than that a pretty good shot, well composed with the exception of the ear and lit, deserved the score and placement it got. Good processing as well.
Beautiful shot, you really captured the emotion in his face. The POV is a little different, which adds to it (IMO), and you did a great job getting the detail, It would have been nice if his ear was as sharp as the rest of his face, but that's a minor point.