Hi Suzanne. Nice pics - I want your dog, he/she's gorgeous! You've made good use of the shallow dof of that lens wide open at f1.7, but the photos would be improved by ensuring the focus point is on the subject (e.g. the dog's eyes) or that the depth of focus is deep enough to have a little more of the subject in focus (e.g. the cute shot of the little boy, which to my taste, would benefit from more of his face being sharp).
On the other hand, the shallow depth of focus on the shot of the girl on the bike is spot on, and helps her 'pop out' against the background.
You possibly already know this, but to get the lens stopped down for a bit deeper focus, you need to use it in M mode with the aperture selected on the lens itself. In other modes, the lens always has a wide-open aperture, no matter what you select on the lens. More details here -
Using Older Lenses with the PENTAX K-x | Pentax Support 
and now my baby is a Pentax K-x. I have the standard 18-55 lens, a 70-300 tamron lens and just bought the smc pentax 50mm F1.7 for a fantastic price of £22 from the local CEX shop. 
oops it seems to have put 3 pics of m#y drive on
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