When the Ghost Dog Howls

When the Ghost Dog Howls is the thirteenth book in the Goosebumps HorrorLand book series. It was published in 2010.

The cover shows a ghost dog in a park.

Blurb
"It has powers you may not want to unleash."

In HorrorLand's eerie gift shop Andy finds a hound's-tooth necklace. The big tooth is yellow, has two sharp points, and, according to the shopkeeper, is said to grant wishes.

But Jonathan Chiller knows something else about the tooth. It's said to be haunted by the ghost of a huge hound. A ghost that's got a mouthful of sharp teeth—but wants this one back.

Plot
Andy Meadows and his cousin, Marnie Myers, are watching a show in HorrorLand. Andy is startled when a frightening clown, Murder the Clown, approaches him and tries to talk to him. The clown invites Andy and Marnie onto the stage. Murder the Clown says that they will be food for the zombie clowns. The show begins, but Andy and Marnie find themselves trapped when a large group of zombies begin closing in on them. The two kids are saved when Murder the Clown helps them escape. After successfully escaping, Murder the Clown assures the two kids that everything they saw was part of the show, but the kids remain skeptical.

The kids leave Murder the Clown and stumble into Chiller House, a HorrorLand gift shop. The kids meet Jonathan Chiller, the shop's owner. Andy sees a large and sharp tooth on display, but Chiller warns Andy that the tooth is too powerful. Chiller says that the tooth came from a Scottish dog known as the Blue Kerlew Hound. Chiller says that the Blue Kerlew Hound that the tooth came from was evil. The hound caused problems for the villagers, so the villagers enlisted the help of a sorcerer. The sorcerer cast a spell on the dog, and his spell caused the dog to lose one tooth and run away. According to Chiller, the tooth could grant wishes, and the sorcerer used the tooth to become famous. However, the hound eventually returned, and it killed the sorcerer. Andy wants to buy the tooth. Before he takes it, he is warned by Chiller to keep the tooth dry. Chiller also hands Andy a small Horror statue, and he says that Andy can pay him the next time they meet.

Back at Andy's house, Marnie is eager to see the tooth in action. Andy wishes that his parents would take him out for dinner, and Marnie wishes that they will take her as well. Almost immediately, Andy's father announces that they will be eating out for dinner and that Marnie can come as well. Andy wishes that his father will own a new Escalade. Andy goes outside and is shocked to see a brand new Escalade parked on the curb. Andy's family goes to a burger restaurant. After eating at the restaurant, Andy's family goes home. He hears long howls outside of his window all night.

The following Saturday, Andy goes to the mall. Andy is slightly distraught when he runs into Marnie, and Marnie wants to make more wishes. Andy wishes that Marnie will stop talking, and Marnie loses her voice. Marnie grabs the tooth and undoes Andy's wish. In the process of grabbing the tooth, Marnie accidentally jabs Andy with the tooth, which causes a small cut on his chest. Marnie tries to make a wish, but when she does, a white light shocks Andy. The light causes him to go unconscious. Andy wakes a while later, and he sees his cousin and two complete strangers. The strangers claim that they are his parents, but Andy does not believe them despite the fact that Marnie corroborates their story. Andy is also greeted by a young girl who claims that she is his sister. Marnie rationalizes that, because Andy made a wish while the tooth was wet, something terrible had happened. The people who claim to be Andy's family become progressively more annoying, and, in a moment of panic, Andy wishes that he could be ten-thousand miles away from them. Andy suddenly finds himself in a space capsule orbiting Earth. Andy is impressed by the view and accidentally wishes that Marnie could see the view, so she appears. Marnie, upset, tries to take the tooth, but the tooth floats away because there is no gravity. In a struggle to get the tooth, the two kids bump into a control panel and cause the space capsule to start veering back towards Earth. Andy wishes that he could be back home, and he is teleported there. Much to his dismay, Andy looks outside and sees a huge cage around his house. He also sees many people looking in and gawking at him. Andy goes outside and tries to talk with the people, but he finds that their voices are warped and impossible to understand. Andy also realizes that the people are not looking at him, they are instead looking at the large ape behind him. The menacing ape takes Andy's tooth necklace. Andy finds a beach ball and tosses it to the ape, causing the ape to drop the tooth into a puddle. Andy wishes that he were back home safely, but he is shocked again and he goes unconscious again.

Andy wakes up in a strange location. Andy is greeted by Marnie and an old couple. The couple had been looking after Andy while he was unconscious, and they leave when he wakes up. Andy asks Marnie how she escaped the space shuttle, but she says that both of them had never left the mall.

Andy becomes more concerned when he sees Marnie wearing his tooth, but she insists that it has alway been hers. Andy travels home and goes to his room, but he hears loud dog howl outside of his house. Andy goes online and finds that each wish made with the tooth sends a signal back to the dog that the dog can use to find the person who owns his tooth. Andy calls Marnie and tries to warn her, but she assumes that Andy is just jealous and lying.

The next day at school, Andy tries again to warn Marnie, but she still does not believe him. During the school day, Marnie reminds Andy that Congressman Boltz is going to be visiting the school later and deciding who would win the $500 essay writing prize. Andy is excited by this because his teacher tells him that his essay is the best. Later that day, Congressman Boltz announces that Marnie won. Andy knows that she cheated. Annoyed, Andy goes home. When Andy gets home, he sees the bruise on his neck that Marnie had caused when she tried to take his tooth. Andy realizes that she likely lied to him in order to get his tooth. Andy hears more howling outside and simultaneously devised a revenge strategy.

On Saturday, Andy convinces Marnie to help him make an arcade cabinet. The two go to Andy's hound and begin working on the cabinet in the garage, and they leave the garage door open. Both Andy and Marnie hear the ghost dog howl. Since the garage door is open, nothing stands between the kids and the ghost dog when they see it approaching. As the dog draws nearer, Andy tells Marnie to give the dog her tooth unless she wanted the dog to attach. Marnie admits that the tooth rightfully belonged to Andy. Andy reveals that the dog was actually his neighbor, Mr. Murphy's dog, Jack, painted blue, and he had tricked Marnie into admitting that she had lied. Andy also reveals that his neighbor's dog had been that dog that was barking all night, not the Blue Kerlew Hound. Marnie apologizes for taking the tooth. Suddenly, Andy realizes that the dog he's looking at is not Jack, but in fact, the Blue Kerlew Hound. Jack looks into the garage but dosen't enter and then hurries out of sight, whimpering. The ferocious Blue Kerlew Hound slowly approaches. Andy tries to wish the hound away, but the wish does not cause the dog to disappear. Andy wishes instead for invisibility in order to escape. The kids run into Andy's house, but Andy realizes that he dropped the tooth in the garage. Andy has to go back to the garage and sneak past the Blue Kerlew Hound. Andy uses the tooth to wish to be visible again. Andy then decides the best course of action is simply returning the tooth. Andy throws the tooth outside of the garage. Marnie comes out of hiding, and, when Andy looks back, the ghost dog is gone. Mr. Murphy comes by for his dog and jokes about Jack not being his dog, making Andy think the Blue Kerlew Hound hadn't left until he sees Jack lick Mr. Murphy's face. Andy tries to explain why Jack's fur was blue, but Marnie chimes in, saiding they were making a video about a weird dog. Later that night after Jack was washed by Andy and taken home by Mr. Murphy, Andy hears howling. At first, he thinks it's jack, until Marnie calls him and tells him that she found the tooth on the driveway and had taken it with her when she went home. Marnie agrees to share the tooth with Andy.

Epilogue
Andy was listening to the howling when suddenly, he sees the miniature Horror, the figurine that Andy had received from Jonathan Chiller, glowing. Andy feels drawn towards the small Horror, and suddenly he realizes that he has been teleported back to Chiller's shop. Andy is greeted by Jonathan Chiller, who is smiling ominously. Chiller welcomes Andy and tells him that it is time for Andy to pay for his gift.

Trivia

 * While this book reuses some elements of The Barking Ghost, this book is in no way related to that book.
 * This book references the Cadillac Escalade, Jeep, and Google.
 * Excluding the spin-offs, this is the 100th main series Goosebumps book written.