Any advise on shooting dogs.
The best skill to have is mechanical not technical and it is a similar skill that you will see in all good photography particularly theatrical or reportage. Bresson used the term 'decisive moment' and it is the main reason why leica m series rangefinders are popular with this style.
If you keep in mind that the perfect moment is er... momentary and that shooting at 5 frames per second still won't mean you get that moment, you will realise how important it is to practice this skill.
It's a bit like stopping someone who was bouncing on a trampoline, you would try to get them at the point where they are neither going up or down. However you can easily predict when this is happening. But you can use it in more subtle ways. For example say you have a good model for a portrait who can hold a good pose for a while. All you need to be aware of is blinking eyes. The time when someone is less likely to blink, dog or person is right after they have already blinked. Also with models who appear to hold a similar pose you will find, if you concentrate that they have micro moment to moment subtle variation, which if you are tuned into, you can capture. Which is why two people can take apparently the same shot at almost the same time but one is much better than the other.
With animals you have an advantage that you can play the same trick on them and they won't wise up. With people I sometimes have my camera ready and focussed at a point where they are not looking and also not seeing me, then I wait until they naturally turn around. Trouble is you only get one chance. So you need to be calm and not panic when they turn around as it will take them a few milliseconds before they notice you so you can afford to wait a fraction of a second.
But with animals you can use this trick over and over. Let the dog look away have the camera ready and focussed then make a noise or something to attract it's attention. Study the dog a while and plan the type of expression that you'd like to capture (this is much more reliable than with people) and notice what situations it happen in. You can then artificially set these up with your camera ready and with good lighting. Maybe even had an assistant to hold a reflector, (ie a piece of white paper) which can work well for dogs who usually have large dark pupils.
Be prepared to be patient and take the time to get exactly what you want.
