Buy a running dog for the story. Keep it for the soft blue-grey. The colour is the reason it stays up long after the joke of the zoomies wears off. On the wall it does something useful: it brings movement into a still room without adding noise, because the background is calm and only the dog carries the dark weight. Hang it above a sofa, a sideboard or along a hallway where people pass at walking pace the landscape shape suits a wide, low wall. Pair it with linen, pale wood, wool and blue-grey or off-white paint. Don’t crowd it with busy patterned wallpaper or other high-contrast animal pictures; the brushwork needs a bit of quiet either side. As a canvas the thick brushstrokes read closer to a real painting.