Some other pet pictures. The first has HDR off, the second has it turned on.
The HDR version does a better job of keeping the details of her body in the shadows, and doesn't blow out her front paws quite as much. But they are still over-exposed.
Edit- on the note of tap to focus, I noticed tonight that tapping seems to "expire" after maybe 2-3 seconds. I'd tap, and see the exposure and focus (I think) change. But a few seconds later, it would go back to being presumably just center-weighted.
That seems annoying, to me. I often tap to make sure it is focused, to reduce the shutter lag. But if I am waiting for the right moment to take the picture, then my tap will expire, possibly right before I want to shoot. If I tapped, it should leave it there until I tell it otherwise, IMO.