Celeste,
it's not that the work isn't good. It's that it could be better because you clearly want it to be.

There are two aspects of photographing pets:
1. the technical, photography aspects of exposure, composition, lighting, etc.

2. the issue of how different animals or different breeds are supposed to be shot to look their "best" i.e. like the image the owners have in their heads of their pet.

I deal with it in terms of show dogs but I also see it with pet owners so I try to understand what image they have in their head and then try to duplicate it at least once in my shoot. Because I have a lot of images of dogs, I can show them samples of their breed and they can say "yup, that's how I want Snookie to look". Without samples to show, you need to probe a bit but you can figure out what their vision is of their own pet.

Then you can apply your vision. After I've given people what they expect, I give them what I would like. Sometimes they like it better and sometimes not but at least I tried to expand their vision a bit.

Keep trying things and asking questions. When you're satisfied with your images, you won't have to ask as much.

Jim