I, personally, don't like the piece. Mainly because this is before I really tried drawing canines. I only recently (last night) drew a canine to my own satisfaction. It could also be because, like most artists, I grow to hate my older works very quickly. :>
I recently started work in to pixels, and I found that I couldn't add more than one highlight, generally, without the work becoming...odd. So it carried on to my normal works. My general rule is: One highlight, base, and three shadows.
The background looks like I was on drugs. xD I love it.