I think this is very cute, I like the detail you put into his eyes and how the background brings them out :) My main critique is mostly that the picture is really dark; I know black dogs can be hard to draw but you don't have to make them 100% black either. Both my dogs are black and if you photograph them properly you'll see that they have very reflective fur, so I'd suggest playing around with more highlights, some different shades, probably not starting with so dark a base color. Also I feel like there should be a little more fur detail on the top of his head, it seems very smooth compared to his cheeks and neck (even just a little bit around his ears, maybe. All in all though it looks really good, I do really like the painterly shading you've done in some parts and I feel like that's definitely a great starting point :) Keep it up!

Thank you very much for taking the time. I'll be sure to do that in the future. :)