Okay, I did one more render before I head off for the night.

 

I dropped the Diffuse to 1.1 and increased the gain to .6 (as well as making a partial fix on bump/displacement) and I got this (only the face and lips were updated).  Probably the closest thing to "realistic" as I've ever got even though some would rightly say it's probably more artistic and my second showing was more realistic.  Whatever the case, for at least this render I'm starting to edge closer to uncanny valley territory (at least when you compare it to my normal stuff).

WARK!

Thus Spoketh Winterclaw: a blog about a Winterclaw who speaks from time to time.

 

(using Poser Pro 2014 SR3, on 64 bit Win 7, poser units are inches.)