Despite all the color photos I post, I greatly prefer monochrome photography. I find it more challenging and more interesting. Without color to distract or attract, we have to work much more at composition. And also old tricks such as dodging and burning become much more important as we try to guide the viewer's eye.
Anyway, well done. I love all your photos. And I disagree with you about the dog one—I think it works much better in monochrome. I think almost all portraits work much better in monochrome.
Glad to see this idea of a summery post gaining traction!
Actually, I think I might agree with you about the portrait. The shading on her face isn't nearly as distracting in the black and white as it is in the color version. Black and white does push a photographers skills in a different way than color photography!