Squeak!

One of the many great things about Golden Retrievers is that they never seem to lose the desire to play. Sure, Angelyne has slowed down considerably now that she's nearly 11, but she can never resist the call of the squeaky tennis ball. When she goes to town on this thing, I think she may just be the world's most perfect mix of annoying + adorable.

(I didn't realize my music was so loud. Sorry, neighbors!)

Buying a new car? Salesmen still drool, but the internet rules

Buying a car can be quite the anxiety-inducing endeavor. Lord knows I've been putting it off for years. But my old Civic had really started to rattle (cracked CV joints) and hum (worn brake pads), so the matter had become more pressing: I needed to either put a few thousand into the old gal stat, or dive in and get something new. I opted for something new.

I braced myself for an ordeal (and maybe even a panic attack or two), but thankfully, things went relatively smoothly. In this day and age, car shopping can be—dare I say it—easy. Thanks to the Web, you can arm yourself with everything you need to know, including an acceptable agreed-upon purchase price, before you step foot into the dealership.

A couple things haven't changed over time: You still need to give yourself a lot of time to research, negotiate and noodle; and whatever you do, do not fall in love with a specific car on a lot.

In some cases (broken-down or totalled car, for instance), you might not have the luxury of time. So buy it. Two extra weeks with a rental car or a few more public transit commutes will cost a lot less than the money you'll probably spend if you're in "must buy now" mode.

With this time: Research, research, research. I was having a heck of a time deciding on a car, so I made a list of must-haves and nice-to-haves. Must-haves included room for my dogs, gas mileage better than 20 mpg, a price less than $25k and excellent resale value (the last thing I need is a loan that's worth more than my vehicle). Nice-to-haves were things like "cute," sunroof and availablity in a color I love.

I listed all the cars that met my must-have criteria (with the help of manufacturer Web sites and Edmunds), then checked the boxes under nice-to-haves. I was left with three cars: Toyota Rav-4, Honda Element and the Honda CR-V.

They say a car loses a significant amount of value as soon as it's driven off the lot, but not necessarily so with a Honda or Toyota. High resale was a must-have, but it also left me without the option of buying a used model with very low mileage for much less than brand new. Still, it's worth checking to see if you're better off with a used version of the models you're looking for.

You may want to test drive at this point, but I preferred to stay off of a lot (and more importantly, out of a sales office) until I was armed with every last fact at my disposal thanks to the beautiful, shiny internet. Okay, so I did stop by a couple of lots just to take a gander, and of course I got accosted almost immediately. I felt very sly for only stopping, though, when I had the dogs with me—a ready excuse for getaway. I'd like to think I slipped away quietly, but remember the rattling and humming I mentioned earlier? Yeah, even more fun when there's a bank of salesmen gawking as you thump thump thump and squeeeeeak out of the lot. Embarrassing.

Start getting your financing in order at this point. When that's squared away before you're at the dealership, you're negotiating like a cash buyer. You want to avoid talking monthly payments as opposed to the full price of the car. Once you've agreed to buy a car at a certain price, sure, you may want to see if financing through the dealership is a better deal.

Edmunds and Cars Direct are excellent sites for researching prices. The two most important numbers to learn are invoice price (you're doing well if you pay invoice) and the average that others in your area are paying. Keep in mind, Edmunds does not include the destination charge ($595 here, I'm not sure about elsewhere) in their invoice price, but dealers should be including that charge in their quotes (at least, that was my experience. Ask to be sure.)

You can also utilize Edmunds to start getting quotes from dealers—they have a handy dandy form that allows you to pick the make, model and dealers, then it automatically shoots an email off to the internet sales departments for those dealers. This part is great—you're in the driver's seat (figuratively at this point, of course), safely at your computer, a barrier of several perspective-maintaining miles away from the one car that you just have to drive home. You can scoff in the face of emotion. It's all about the numbers.

But here's the thing. It seems "internet people" like me are not exactly welcomed with open arms. We're sort of changing the way cars are sold. We know what we want, and we know what we should really be paying. We've already got our ducks well in a row by the time we're in the clutches of an actual, real live salesman. We're buying in droves, but we don't result in the same kind of profit margin per vehicle as someone who comes in "off the street" and pays $4000 more than they should. So don't be surprised when some dealerships don't respond to your inquiries. But some do have internet sales departments that are built to move lots of units, and they'll respond—I received enough responses to start pitting dealers against one another. At that point, it was easier to just move to phone, though there are benefits to having offers in writing. Just take the lowest quote from Dealer A, and call Dealer B. Ask if they can beat it. They never go down more than a couple hundred bucks at a time, so you'll want to call Dealer C and then start over with Dealer A. When it's clear you're not going to get a lower quote (and based on the invoice and average price paid, you know it's reasonable), get the quote in writing.

I say this because I didn't get my quote in writing, and I ended up in a situation where the salesperson tried to hoodwink me. He insisted he accidentally gave me the 2006 price for my 2007 model, and they'd sure work with me, but they couldn't go as low as he'd said they would. And he tried his darndest to get me to cave with several visits to a shiny, perfect number winking at me from the lot. Which, I have to say, made me feel smug for my resistant heart of steel. It helped that another dealer had agreed (a bit shiftily and again only verbally) to match that price, so after a couple hours test driving (and "negotiating") with Mr. Hoodwinker, I left, drove to the other dealer, found an internet sales guy and told him I was ready to buy if he honored the quote I'd been given. They went back on their quote as well (it was an unreal buy for a model that's in demand), but only by $200—better than Hoodwinker's Hondas. So I just shrugged and said okay. It was still a great deal. Presumably, though, if I'd received the quote in writing, I would have saved $200—and a couple of hours.

A friend of a friend got quotes by fax. He shot faxes off to several dealers, and requested a fax back with a quote. Good idea.

Some additional thoughts: If you have a trade-in, price it at kbb.com to make sure you are getting what you should. And for me, it's worth it to resist the hard sell for those extended warranties and clear coats, even if it means the salesperson goes away after the seventh sell attempt thinking you're mad at them, as mine apparently did. Ha. Ha.

Even when you've negotiated your price before you go in to buy, it's still good to know some of the "tricks of the trade" so you can see the ploys coming. I hate that it comes to that (salesmen are people too!) but hey, I'm not the one who made the rules, and I refuse to get screwed over. So, for instance, settle in with a book, and bring a snack and some water, because they might take their sweet time trying to get you nice and tired (and weak). Confessions of a Salesman is a great article by a writer for Edmunds who went undercover as a car salesman.

Buying a car really doesn't have to be quite the hellish experience anymore. Everything you need to know is right at your fingertips, and as the saying goes, knowledge is power. Technology rules.

Will wag for food

The dog shelter over at PAWS is bursting at the seams these days. I could hardly keep up during my volunteer shift yesterday. I try not to think about it too much, but damn, it can be really heartbreaking sometimes.

Gilmore, for instance, has been at the shelter for months and months. This guy, a big pit bull type, has ears cropped down to nearly nothing and a gianormous head perched atop such a skinny body that you wonder if he's going to tilt forward and get stuck. He reminds me of a big, bald, vastly and violently tattooed Hell's Angel that would stop in his tracks to rescue that shivering puppy in the gutter. Intimidating looking, but a big old teddy bear inside. He's a big, happy, galloping hunk of love, and whenever I visit him, he rests his huge head in my hands and looks at me with the most soulful eyes. There's got to be a home out there for him, somewhere.

I also got to hang a bit with Cody yesterday, a big chubby black lab mix who decided fetch wasn't nearly as important as climbing up on the park bench with me to lay on my lap and snuggle. Cuddly boy dogs are the best. (I'm totally in love.)

Oh, and Ginger! She's so adorable, a wiggly happy hound puppy. Her face is so very Lizzie-like. Looks like "hound" is on the confirmed side of Lizzie's pedigree possibilities list.

I'm crossing my fingers that a flood of adopters will follow this influx of homeless pooches.

(Gilmore, Cody, Ginger and countless others urge all to spay and neuter their pets. Mmkay?)