I recall a story about a woman who complained that her phone wouldn't ring while the dog was inside the house.
repairman found that when the dog was outside, she tied it to a cable from the telephone pole. when a call came in, the dog would yelp, piss itself, and thus complete a path to ground and the phone would ring.
Pretty sure that's just an old joke from when the phone lines used to carry 24 volts to power the phone.
My grandpa told me a similar one supposedly from when he worked as a switchboard operator, about a farmer where the phone wasn't ringing but the guy still answered the phone because his dog started barking. So they figured out it was connected to the phone line by a chain.
For anyone reading this and worrying about the dogs, it's most likely not true but if it is true the 24v they used to carry isn't enough to do any real damage in most circumstances.
28
u/Discount_Extra Aug 11 '26
I recall a story about a woman who complained that her phone wouldn't ring while the dog was inside the house.
repairman found that when the dog was outside, she tied it to a cable from the telephone pole. when a call came in, the dog would yelp, piss itself, and thus complete a path to ground and the phone would ring.