Hiya!
Its definitely possible to use the Canon point and shoots for DOF, but it does take a little bit of trickery. Everything people have said is valid. I carry a Canon G9 as my travel camera, and have managed to get a few nice shallow DOF shots.
I like to switch to Manual mode, turn on Macro, and either zoom in and step back if there's something I can isolate or get as close as possible to what I'm focusing on..
A few pictures just for fun.
