Once again Dot was trying to make her Dad feel better about his new computer job. But even she had to admit that organizing an on-line awards ceremony for the dog food industry all around the world was going to be… well, hard. Very hard in fact!

Dot had known something was wrong the moment she saw her dad coming home up the garden path. It was just like the day he’d first brought the laptop home – he had what she and her mum Suzie called his “hangdog” look: shoulders bent, head down, feet shuffling along. It meant he was dead worried.

When her dad was like that he always reminded Dot of a bloodhound she’d once known called Algernon Albufast (everyone called him Algy for short!) who used to live three doors down till his owners the Dunlops moved back to Scotland. It would have only taken a pair of big floppy ears swinging from side to side to make her dad look exactly like Algy, she thought.

Dot had to stop herself from smiling at the picture in her mind of her Dad with bloodhound ears. They were in her bedroom, with the laptop logged on the Doggydos site. Bill Com stared at it and let out a big sigh (Algy did that too… but at least her dad didn’t have a big drool at the same time like he did, she thought!)

“It’s very nice of you to offer to help Dot” he said, moving her computer mouse round and round in circles that went nowhere. “But... there’s a problem already! Julie Mr Elms’ new secretary has lost the list of all the companies that go in for the awards – can’t find it anywhere! How am I going to even start getting in touch with them to organize it all? Where on earth can I start?”

“Easy!” said Dot. “We’ll ask Google!”

Her dad looked more like Algy than ever.  “Who? Dot really this is no time to talk about something out of Harry Potter! This is important!”

“No no dad – Google is a search engine! It finds things for you on the Internet! Look!”

Dot tapped in “dog food companies” in the Google search box she’d set up on her Internet toolbar. “Just watch!” she said.

There was a pause – then up it came: “Results 1 – 10 of about 349,000”.

THREE HUNDRED AND FORTY NINE THOUSAND! No WAY!! Dot gasped and her dad let out a big groan and put his head in his hands. What were they going to do now?!