I don't feel there's anything wrong with your dog photo, Luke.
Yes, there's the lost the detail in the fur, but this could even be beneficial compositionally. It draws our eyes to the eyes/face of your dog - no visual "clutter" to distract us.
(In a way blowing the highlights is an equivalent of throwing the background out of focus - you're losing unimportant and potentially distracting detail to focus the viewer's eyes on what's important).
As long as the transition into "white-ish" is gradual (and not a harsh clipped line) I have no problems with blown out areas.
Having said that, I'm really quite happy about the exposure warning blinkies on my m43 cameras. People go on about the limited dynamic range of m43, but at least there are tools to manage that range easily. I'm including myself in the group of lazy photographers in that respect.
And as to the waterfall: a waterfall in broad sunlight - with wet black rocks and deep shadows of forest canopy... and water that directly reflects the sun... That's one of the hardest things to turn into a great photograph (if not impossible). The dynamic range of the scene is soo big. Overcast days are great for waterfalls.
I think in your case the camera might have tried to expose for the shadows (bringing those up to middle grey) - in which case 2 stops of exposure compensation are definitely not enough.
Don't despair - try to embrace it ;-)