Part of photo's coming out blurry?

I was taking a pic of my dog's face and noticed only her eyes were really sharp, the rest of her face was almost out of focus, Can someone tell me what the problem is, I have a nikon dslr

Added (1). i shoot in manual mode

I'll tell you more about this particular question in a moment, but do yourself a big favour and learn about your wonderful camera!

Read your manual! Read it several times, and practice in between. If you don't have a book, download a new one from the manufacturer's website.

Attend a class, visit your local library for some books, read/watch online tutorials.

There are many resources available to us online, some of those provided by the camera manufacturers (and NO, you do NOT need an Olympus camera to learn about general photographic principles just because those hints are on an Olympus websites - Photography is Photography.)
For example:
http://www.olympusamerica.com/...center.asp
http://www.learn.usa.canon.com/galleries/galleries/tutorials/eos101_cll.shtml?cm_mmc=EM-_-EO-_-20130605-_-LeadIn
http://photographycourse.net/

Understanding at least the basic principles of photography (as well as being familiar with your camera) will enable you to make the most of your gear, and will make a HUGE difference to your images.

Ok… Onto your specific question:

DOF - Depth Of Field
DOF is the area (plane) of the photo that is in sharp focus. For landscapes, we usually want a very deep DOF, so that everything in it is in focus. For portraits, we usually like to have the person in focus, while the background is blurred.
So you have a plane that is in focus - and it can be either in the foreground (so the background is blurry) or in the background (so the foreground is blurry).

To achieve a shallow DOF (for background blur and/or bokeh), you need the following (in order of importance):
1) longer focal lengths - the longer it is (i.e. More zoom), the stronger the effect becomes - so 200mm is much better than 35mm
2) distance - a subject that is CLOSE, a background that is further away.
3) a lens with a large aperture (f/1.8 or f/2.8 work best)

Often people ask how to achieve with a small P&S camera, but unfortunately that is not something those little things are very good at because of their VERY TINY sensors. Even the better bridge camera still have MUCH smaller sensors than a DSLR does. However, given enough zoom, many of them can still get there to a certain extent.

If you have manual controls, use the biggest aperture. If you don't, try setting it to the portrait setting which makes the camera choose the biggest aperture it is capable of. Make sure there's some distance between you, the subject, and the background. You can also attempt it on Macro setting - that may work to a certain extent.

For further reading, check out this Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/...h_of_field
And here is a website with really good examples: http://www.althephoto.com/concepts/selectivefocus.php

So if you want to AVOID blurry parts, you have to do the exact opposite of the people who are trying to achieve it: use a small aperture (not always easy with a moving subject like a dog) and/or a wide angle lens.

Simply…
Either it wasn't in correct focus
or
You had a wide aperture which caused a small depth of Field.
If your dog is active, just stick the camera on Auto and Multi Shot and take several at a time. Some will turn out well.

You had the aperture wide open (small f number) or were very close or were usong a longer focal length - or any combination of the above.

All of which would give you a very shallow depth of field.

I suggest you take a basic course in photography.

That would probably be because you were close to the dog (or had zoomed in), compounded by the use of a 'high' aperture, something like f3.5 or f5.6, rather than f11 ( a 'low' aperture).

Posibly you were working in low light conditions and the camera naturally selected a high aperture.

Look at the metadata (Properties or Info) to find out how the camera was set.

If you shot in manual then you would have chosen the aperture yourself. Think about your choices next time. Read the section in the handbook about 'depth of field'.

Your DoF is probably too shallow.

What settings did you shoot at? And I don't mean manual or program or landscape or Av, I mean what aperture, shutter speed, ISO, focal length and distance to subject did you use?

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html