Lol, DARN! The person above me got to it first!

On most digital cameras there should be indoor, outdoor, night, and ect. settings. Try trying each one out until you find one that fits for your dark dog against light backgrounds.. Try turning the AUTO flash setting on.. that's what works for me the best because my camera will automatically detect how much light is in the room/outside and adjust the flash brightness, or no flash, to it.