Sleepy Time Dog

[Annrace]

I have only had my Canon Rebel T1i for maybe 3 weeks now, previously only owned a kodak easy share. I am trying to learn to actually take good shots and use my camera to its fullest.
This is a shot I took of my dog being good, or otherwise called sleeping.

The photo is only slightly cropped and then straightened, and I increased the shadows a touch so they would seem a bit deeper. Also changed it to a BW shot.

From Canon practice shots

Canon EOS T1i
Focal Length 43mm
1/4s
f/9.0
ISO 200

a link to the original photo
Picasa Web Albums - Jessica

Is this too dark? framed okay? What could I do to improve on shots like this?

Thanks in advance.

Feel free to browse my practice photos and leave critiques on the comments, anything will help.