Alert Golden Retriever in Snow

Animal pictures often look best when taken from the animal's level. I'm a good bit taller than this dog, so I was down very low in the snow for this shot.
 
I planned the position where I wanted to take this picture from before getting there - to get the light and background working together while preventing unnecessary tracks in the snow. The dog and I moved together to the position where I instructed her to stay. She happened to alertly look in the right direction for this shot, but the plan was to throw something in that direction to get the alert look.