Editing photos, am I on the right track?

I got a DSLR for Christmas and I'm still learning how to use it, but I'm also trying to figure out how to properly edit photos using Lightroom. I went to an agility trial recently and got a couple neat shots, but the bad lighting drained the photos a bit. Here's my first attempt at navigating away from just clicking autotone:


And the before image for comparison:


Anything you can see that I'm doing wrong/right? Basically any critique/criticism would be greatly appreciated! Also any tips for photographing fast moving dogs in bad lighting where flash isn't allowed would also be very much appreciated

You're on the right track. Your edits have definately enhanced the photo.

As you play with lightroom, try working with the individual colours; in this case, starting with your edited photo, try increasing the saturation just a bit in the yellow and red (moreso, the yellow) channels to help bring out the dog. In the blue channel, try reducing the saturation a bit and reducing the brightness.

As a general rule, I always adjust contrast before I play with vibrancy and saturation because contrast always impacts vibrancy and saturation.

The main thing is once you've got a good result, play around with the features you might not typically use and see what they do. You can always undo a change and you'll learn what you like and what you're less keen on as you go.