An Indiana farm wife 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 pet dog always moaned just before the phone rang.

The telephone repairperson proceeded to the scene, curious to see this psychic dog or senile elderly woman. He climbed a nearby telephone pole, hooked in his test set, and dialed the subscriber's house. The phone did not ring right away, but then the dog moaned loudly and the telephone began to ring.

Climbing down from the pole, the telephone repairperson found:

1. The dog was tied to the telephone system's ground wire via a steel chain and collar.

2. The wire connection to the ground rod was loose.

3. Thus the dog was receiving 90 volts of signaling current each time the phone number was dialed.

4. After a couple of such jolts, the dog would start moaning and consequently urinate on himself as well as the surrounding ground.

5. The wet ground completed the circuit, thus causing the phone to ring which of course demonstrates that some problems CAN be fixed by pissing and moaning.