Could you try something like this?

http://shaybocks.com/wp-content/uplo...erConcept4.png

I think the photo of the dog's head in your designs doesn't scream dog to me. When I first saw it, I had to actually read the content of the post to figure out what it was. The image in the link is a very typical dog shaped and the color scheme works well. I like the color scheme though.