Photography woes

As a rank amateur 'tog who's been tinkering for 6 months or so on a Canon EOS 20D I picked up off a friend. I dont seem to be progressing at a rate I had planned to. Its quite frustrating trying to nail the right perfect frame.

I've read the books and online tutorials, but it doesnt seem to come together when I'm out there with my camera!
My first attempt was along a lovely river out the back of mine. I was innitially pleased but soon realised that my subjects were unninteresting. So, I went to a local broad, and tried there. I had a better subject there, but not understanding how apertures and shutter speeds work, my attempts were very boring.

Though with some hints and tips from a Gent thats now running www.cafetogs.co.uk I soon ended up with a rather more interesting  crop:

From there I took pictures of my dog and anything else that found its way in the view finder, but with little success. I then headed out to a local trackday, and managed to pretty much forget everything I had learned about shutter speeds for most of the day, D'oh

Finally remembering the importance of shutter speeds and action led to:

Which actually, looking at it now needs an tighter crop, but hey, that mean im learning, right?

Ive been taking plenty of pics of my dog Bella with little luck. The best I have managed so far is on a day she had been chasing her ball over the field and was sitting rather tired:

Also, tried my hand at a bit of twitching:

Im back to Snetterton race track Tuesday June 7th, so stay tuned.

If your interested in more of my photos, would like to know more about me, you can find me at:
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eclectic1982/
&
CafeTogs http://www.cafetogs.co.uk/ where I regularly join meets with other 'togs.