Practice, practice, practice! I can't tell you how many thousands of pictures I've got on my hard drive that are just utter shite but were all part of figuring out how to use light to it's best advantage and what settings worked out and all that. I've still got a very long way to go but I think I need some new lenses before I can get to that next level.
And yes, OtherMe is right. Molly is an English Setter (very, very much a BYB dog, she's nigh nekkid for an ES) and belongs to my roommate.