Advice on picture / shutter speeds

I took the dogs to the bay today and took some pics I upped the shutter speed to 1/400 as they were running but seem crap.
What am I doing wrong.

As a starting point maybe you could give an idea what you think may be wrong with it? Upping the shutter speed to catch action is the right way to go but on a pretty dull day it requires generally a faster ISO speed and/or wider aperture. Not an easy speed to achieve if you are trying to retyain quality. Your pic is probably a little underexposed although the highlight detail seems to be just going in parts of the dog so can't imagine you have a lot of lattitude to play with?

It was dull but not really dull can you tell I am not techy minded. I can take good pics in pure strong daylight but in artificial light or low light my pics are pants

You're not alone with this issue.

I know you want to 'freeze' the motion so you're correct to go for a faster shutter speed.

The problem with fast shutter speeds is that whilst the shutter is quick enough to freeze the motion, it's not open long enough to let enough light in.

As BC says - on a dull day there are two ways to sort this. You can either increase the ISO which will give you a brighter (but grainier) shot or set a wider aperture. Setting a wider aperture is great but it will depend on how wide (fast) your lens aperture will go. A wider setting will also give you a shallower depth of focus.

My starting point would be to look at your 1:400 shot as see if it was sharp. If it was sharp try a slower speed 1:200. If that was sharp try it slower and so on. Keep going until you reach the slowest speed that retains sharpness. If you only want the dog in focus - crank the aperture wider before you begin trying the shutter speeds as your shots will be brighter at the same speed.

Hope that helps

OK will try that when next out

Cheers guys and I posted in wrong bit I have a Nikon

If you are using an DSLR Nikon then you should be able to get 400 or even 640 ISO (or more if you have a D40 or D300) without too much 'noise'. Also worth noting that many pictures you see in the forums are the result of being Photoshop'ed to enhance colour or whatever whereas I would guess yours is straight out of camera. I wouldn't beat yourself up over it, your picture isn't so bad and my guess is if you have an image package like Photoshop or Elements taht would immediatly brighten up the picture. Some people would crop down to your own dog, but I l think the picture conveys your dog has been enjoying himself in the field growling at and sniffing around other dogs!