Barbara, what a cute little girl; you're almost there, aren't you? But there are a couple of things you could tackle before adding back those few extra pounds.
The outer edges of her eyes in the photo turn down more than you have them, and the eyes themselves seem slightly more elongated in the reference photo than you've painted them. There's more white between the inner corner of the eyes and the iris, on the eye on our right. Also her mouth is wider in the photo, and again the corners, especially the one on our right, are a little lower.
I don't think the puppy fat changes the width and contours of either the eyes or the mouth, but it looks as though in an effort to reduce her, you've reduced those features as well. It also looks as though the bridge of her nose between her eyes is a little too narrow in the painting. To put her on a virtual diet it's really only necessary to make the face slightly narrower but leave the features alone. Of course the cheeks and chin need to be made slightly thinner, but you've done that - maybe too much in terms of the bony prominence of the chin, because that wouldn't change. Only the flesh on either side would.
You've also given her more flesh in that shoulder to our right; it protrudes more than in the reference photo.
Lowering the contrast and toning down the skin would also make a difference, I think.
Looking forward to seeing the next steps!
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