A York, North Dakota school teacher called the local phone company to report her telephone failed to ring when her friends called and that on the few occasions, when it did ring, her dog always moaned right before the phone rang.

The telephone repairman proceeded to the scene, curious to see this psychic dog or senile lady. He climbed a telephone pole, hooked in his test set, and dialed the subscriber's house. The phone didn't ring right away, but then the dog moaned and the telephone began to ring.

Climbing down from the pole, the telephone repairman found:

1. The dog was tied to the telephone system's ground wire with a steel chain and collar.
2. The wire connection to the ground rod was loose.
3. The dog was receiving 90 volts of signaling current when the number was called.
4. After a couple of jolts, the dog would start moaning and then urinate.
5. The wet ground would complete the circuit, thus causing the phone to ring.

All of which demonstrates that some problems CAN be fixed by pissing and moaning.

Eh, poor dog. I couldn't bring myself to smile at the joke.

That was clever..

Thanks for sharing. I’ve known that joke for a long time, but still find it funny.

I spent the first half of my career designing digital logic for scientific computers. When that industry went into the tank, I accepted a job with Siemens to design a digital ADM (Add Drop Multiplexer) for SONET networks.

I got a book to learn about land line telephony. One thing I learned was that telephone sets have an “anti-tinkle” circuit – to prevent unintended weak rings in certain circumstances. I found the term amusing, and somewhat relevant to this joke.

Once upon a time in the old days, my secretary had a tower style 286. She wanted room on her desk, so she would put the phone on the tower and begin keying. The phone would ring. She would answer the phone, but the magnet in the old bell scrambled her hard drive. She'd call IT in, and move the phone to give them better access. IT never figured it out, but I finally did. Poor Yolanda. My predecessor had hired her because of her looks.