Changes made: did the yoke as patterned but then I made the arm holes bigger by starting the cast off holes sooner and skipping more stitches.
I also improved the fit by doing 1x1 ribbing on the belly.
I altered the short rows by doing a turn 2 stitches before the last one and finished with 4 rows of garter stitch.
The fit is perfect for my barrel-cheated dog.