“It’s locked, don’t worry,” said Amy. “You can tell me.”

“I don’t know,” said Katie. “I just kind of thought it. I feel like Rover and I talk sometimes, but not by talking. He has ideas and then I have them also.”

“Huh,” said Amy. Katie had always had a big imagination, so she might be making it up. Then again, the six-year-old sounded like she believed the fib. And anyway, Amy had just put all her science fair chances on the line for this, so … “Do you think he could do it to me?”

“I don’t know,” said Katie. She knelt down next to Rover and started rubbing his face and neck. “Can you talk to Amy, boy? Tell Amy your name. Tell Amy your name like you told me. It’s okay, good boy. It’s okay.”

Rover stared up at Amy. Everything was quiet, except for Katie’s cooing.

Suddenly, the screen of Amy’s iPad flickered with static distortion—and then it went back to normal, only with the web browser open.

The word Rover had been searched. Listings for a dog-sitting company and local Irish pubs lined the open page.

A shot of icy cold ran through Amy. She looked from the screen to the dog and back again, unbelieving.

“Good boy, Rover!” cried Katie. The dog turned away from Amy to lick the little girl’s face.

Chapter 7: New Tricks

A week into her research, and Amy already knew she’d get first place. Now it was a question of whether or not she’d get a medal from the government.

With Katie’s help, she’d managed to get Rover to “cast” multiple commands at her iPad. They were never anything elaborate—in fact, most of them were only one word, like his name or food or outside—but for Amy, that was more than enough. He also showed his ability to turn off screens on several occasions, when Amy would pretend to ignore him by listening to music on her phone or drawing on her iPad.

It was like the dog had a receptor in his brain, thought Amy, and Katie was able to talk him into using it.

That was one of the two main obstacles she faced, though—Rover wouldn’t play ball without Katie.

Whenever Amy tried to do one-on-one experiments with the dog, he would just sit there looking unimpressed, and sometimes would walk out of the garage on his own. Amy tried everything, repeating the exact wording Katie had used, petting Rover the same way her sister did, even playing a recording of Katie’s voice.

The dog gave her nothing in return.

Then, when Katie came back in, Rover would almost reluctantly go along with her commands.