An elderly lady called Verizon to say that her telephone failed to ring when her friends called, and that on the few occasions when it did ring, her dog always barked before the phone rang. The telephone repairman proceeded to the scene, curious to see this psychic dog or senile elderly lady.

He climbed a nearby telephone pole, hooked in his test set, and dialed the subscriber's house. The phone didn't ring but the dog barked loudly and then the telephone did ring.

Climbing down from the pole, the telephone repairman found:

1. The dog was tied to the telephone system's ground post via an iron chain and collar.

2. The dog was receiving 90 volts of signaling current when the phone number was called.

3. After several such jolts, the dog would start barking and urinate on the ground.

4. The wet ground would complete the circuit and the phone would ring.

Which shows you that some problems can be fixed by just pissing on them.