The very first step to good animal photography should always be to have it clear in your own mind what type of dog photo you want, eg, portrait, action, location, dog-with-family vs family-with-dog, artsy-fartsy, far_out efx, mawkishly sweet, etc.
If you aren't sure which of these you want, go to Google Images, type in the word, "dog", and figure out which of the many possibilities appeal to you. Say, dog portraits appeal to you, then re-search Google Images for {dog portraits}. Pick a few of these that you like and bookmark / save them for future reference. If you are just starting out in this field, set out to emulate one of the photos that you like instead of trying to come up with something new.
If you don't have it absolutely clear in your own mind which kind of photo you want and simply leave it up to chance, it's almost guaranteed that you won't take the best possible shot.
Next, learn how to take a good dog shot of the kind you want. Google is your friend. There are literally thousands of tutorials, threads in discussion groups, etc. on each of the types of dog shots listed above. Google something like {tutorial dog portrait} or {how do I take a good action shot of my dog}. Study a few of the tutorials.
Separate in your own mind the important components that contribute to each shot:
a) dog (and owner) control / handling / management;
b) technical aspects, ie, getting a well exposed, sharp shot with good color, good lighting, etc.;
c) posing the dog and composing the shot, ie, looking down, looking up, close, far, etc.
d) If you don't like the results of your session with the dog, my recommendation is that you not even consider photoshopping these images unless there is absolutely no way you can re-shoot the dog. Put differently, practice with your own animal first, and refine your photographic technique before you reflexively reach for PS to try to improve a murky, noisy photo.
With respect to the image you posted, I take it you were looking to make a nice, fairly conventional, B&W dog portrait. If this is indeed what your goal was, here are my main suggestions:
It appears that you shot this image without flash in some location where there was weak diffuse light. This choice throws a whole bunch of problems right in your lap. Specifically, you will be forced to use a high ISO (and hence noise), you won't have much tonal separation between the subject and the background, you'll wind up with a small depth of field and/or movement artifacts (both of which soften the image), and, as the photo comes out of the camera, his fur won't have the texture you might prefer.
As far as i can tell, the suggestions in the earlier posts for post processing all were designed to try to help fix these flaws. Needless to say, it would be vastly better if you had "gotten it right" in the camera instead of after "the horses have left the barn", LOL.
If I were photographing this dog and wanted to make the final result resemble the photoshopped versions, but be better than them, I would sit the dog 5 or so feet in front of a window so that there is rim-lighting on his fur. The wall under the window would likely be in shadow, so I would position myself and use a telephoto lens so that the dark area under the window became a nice, uniform dark background. Finally, I would use a flash directly above the camera to fill in the dog, but not substantially brighten the background. Because the flash is above the camera, the shadow it throws will be hidden behind and below the dog, out of sight of the camera. The use of flash and strong rim lighting by the sun will also allow you to use a low, noise-free ISO setting, as well as a higher shutter speed and smaller aperture, all contributing to a sharper, higher contrast image.
I've taken many pix exactly as described above, however, my computer is still on the fritz, so I can't post any example images, but I hope you can envision the look this general technique can achieve.
HTH,
Tom M
