Jim, you are working hard to get the fall thing underway. I would suggest you look at still life paintings and see how groupings work well. By lining items in a row it looks more like a fence. Let some of the pieces overlap with one another.

Just make sure the dog is the dominate and the real focus. There are rules in design. Learn some and then learn where you can break them. Designing in odd numbers usually works best. Try to work for the golden triangle. There are a bunch of suggestions but for now you might experiment with the set up alone and then know that works.

Your color use is nice. Makes me want to get out the leaves but I am not really ready to give up summer yet!