Depth of Field for Indoor Flash Photo

Stevedots

I was taking a photo of my dog for a Christmas card, and I was indoor using a flash. I was about five to six feet away. Trouble was I wanted a longer depth of field so the dogs face and an object in front of him were both in sharp focus. I got an ok shot, but when enlarged I can see that it could have been sharper. I used the auto setting but tried some aperture settings along with exposure settings. Maybe I just didn't get the combination of settings right, but when I tried my own manual setting the image seemed grainy.

Anyone have any tips for indoor flash photos with long depths of field setting?

Thanks,

Steve