Not very original, I know, but I thought I'd see if it was obvious that I used PS to lighten the dog's eyes, nose, and mouth. I also darkened the edges of the frame a little. No flash was used, just the fluorescent light that was available.
Sometimes the plain ones are the best. What an absoulutely darling look on your dogs face. In this case, the "begger is the choser". You chose to photograph that face. My brother Rik calls these types of shots "episodes". Simple moments in time captured on film or digital that give sweet emotional responses always.
I noticed that you said you just got a digital camera, but you don't know how to control it. I hope I don't get in trouble here, but there is another internet site called nikonians.org geared toward people who shoot Nikon. They have a forum exclusively for Coolpix cameras. The people there are pretty knowledgable, and helpful. You might want to check it out if you want advice regarding your CP2000