Must have taken a lot of time, with it being, as far as I can see, all dots and no lines! Technique well suits the subject I think.

1975?

Yes, first semester of 12th grade.

Oh wow! It's awesome to have furs that are so established in the fandom.. People like you blazed the trails of the early furry community I'm sure!

Established the fandom? Hardly, I never heard of furry or knew anything about anthro art till a bit more than 2 years ago. Drew various subject matter with various media through high school but did mostly big cats in ink after till I was almost 22 then didn't draw a pick for 31 years.
I did a lot of tiger sketches in pencil that look a lot like your current icon and if I had found it in one of my old folders, I would have thought it one of mine.
You do good work. Strive to improve, I see talent there.

I see you are thinking of going to Anthrocon and MFF, I go to both. My first con was AC 2010, the year it became the worlds largest. That's the one to go to if you make any but MFF is really good too.