dogs and cloth line cords

[Babybearjs]

well, heres a warning that we all need to remember. I have a 211 on the side of my roommates desk connected to a old 302 base that was sitting on the floor. the dog decided it need to do its business under the desk and got the subset cord wet.... as a result, when I came home yesterday from an appointment, I found the station light for my intercom on and thought my roommate whos in an out building had taken the phone off the hook so he could sleep.... later that day I found the mess by the desk as saw the cord all wet..... once I disconnected the line the system reset and worked just fine... thinking the cord would be OK once dry, I let the cord dry overnight.... reconnecting the phone I found the problem still existed.... Hmmmmm.... OK, now I understand.... the cord was a OPW subset cord with CLOTH CONDUCTORS! Ohhhh big mistake.... so, for all you guys out there, a reminder.... when ordering replacement line and subset cord, always order them with Vinyl Wire. the cloth wire will fail if the cord should ever get wet.... (dog pee included!) plus, the cloth wire can be more expensive!   just a word of caution....

[Bill]

Bear -

My guess is that the salt in the urine is shorting the still-wet conductors. If I were in your place, I would soak the cord for a couple hours in a big pan of cool water, then hang it up to dry. It might have to dry for a couple days - or you could speed it up by putting it in a heavy sock and putting it in the dryer, maybe with some other clothes. The clean water soak should remove the salt, and then when the conductors dry out, you should be good to go.

One advantage of cloth conductors over plastic is that they can take the heat of a dryer. Plastic really doesn't care for it.

Bill

[Phonesrfun]

I agree with the other Bill.  I have washed grungy fabric cords and have had no problems once they are truly dry.  The salt or other "stuff" in the urine could cause leakage through the fabric insulation, but thouroughly rinsing and thouroughly drying the cord should do the trick.

Best thing is to not let the dog pee on your phones!

[twocvbloke]

Best thing is to not let the dog pee on your phones!

In otherwords, tie a knot in it....

[Owain]

there's a story of a dog who would always bark before the phone rang.

it involved party line (ringing to earth rather than across the pair) and you can work out the rest ...

[G-Man]

there's a story of a dog who would always bark before the phone rang.

it involved party line (ringing to earth rather than across the pair) and you can work out the rest ...

What you are talking about is a very old telephone industry story-

In 1952, Telephone Engineering and Management privately published a
hardcover book titled "Tales of the Nineties." It was a compilation of
stories from prominent industry leaders regarding their experiences during
the earliy days of telephony, with the intent of preserving their stories so
as not to be lost forever. I suspect the that the following is the original
story and though the years others have spun off of it.

It was printed and bound by industry leader, R.R. Donnelley & Sons.

Here are some excerpts from an experience of P.J. Reilly, who was, in 1912,
hired away from his job as the General Foreman of the Cleveland Telephone
Company to work for the Mountain Home Telephone Company which was formed
from the consolidation of the competing Bell and Independent companies in an
area covering from Lake Champlain on the east to Alexandria Bay on the west,
and from the Canadian border on the north to 80 miles south on the eastern
border and narrowing to 30 miles south of the border in the western section.


"P.J. prided himself on his ability to locate the most intricate case of
line trouble. He stopped at the Tupper Lake Central Office one morning to
make a telephone call. The Wire Chief was all hot and bothered concerning an
intermittent ground that showed up on a rural line. On several occasions the
troubleman had started out to locate the trouble only to have it clear
before he reached the end of the line. The circuit served, among others, a
few camps owned by prominent citizens of New York City.

"That line I was telling you about Mr. Reilly," exclaimed the Wire Chief,
"just came in grounded again, and the troubleman is out on another case. I
am going right after it myself."

"Let me take a crack at it," replied P.J., and not waiting for a reply he
hurried down the stairs, jumped into his Ford and was off like a shot. When
he reached the Harriman Camp, a strange sight met his gaze. A harness snap
was hooked onto the bare drop wire. Fastened to the harness snap was a bare
wire carried down to a metal collar on a hunting dog. The runway used by the
dog had been well watered to insure a good ground contact. Reilly had
located the ground and now he started out indignantly to find the culprit
responsible for the trouble. 'Poleon, the French Canadian camp attendant,
was chopping wood in the rear of the barn.

"Did you hook that dog on the telephone wire?" demanded Reilly.

"Sure," replied 'Poleon. "I be darn busy feller. I doan know when M'sieu
Harriman ring on telephone for 'Poleon mak' de trip for depot. I doan lak
sit on 'phone all while to hear him ring, so de dog I get for help. When
those dog mak' two quick and wan long bark, dat's my ring for sure, so I go
for house right away and say 'hello.' W'at's matter for dat?"

" Plenty is the matter for that," mimicked Reilly sternly. "You put the
line out of order and we've had the devil's own time locating the trouble."

"Now doan get very mouche excite," pleaded 'Poleon. "De dog she doan go on
the wire some more. You be satisfy now."

"I never heard of such a dang fool idea in all the days of my born life,"
muttered Reilly, as his Ford sped back to Tupper Lake.

The Wire Chief went into peals of laughter a P.J.'s humorous narrative.

"Two quick barks an one long yelp," he chuckled. "Can you imagine the
feelings of the poor hound. pinch hitting for the code telephone ring?"

"That I can," said P.J. with a merry twinkle in his eyes, "and I can also
well imagine Rube Goldberg the cartoonist's fellings when he finds out that
'Poleon Westinghouse Edison, if you please, has been stealing his stuff."

[Babybearjs]

wow, what a story... tying the dog to the ground line of a partyline... 2 barks and 1 yelp! LOL!

[twocvbloke]

Funnily enough, the mother's ex (who was an ex-GPO/BT lazy person (cos he always described his working day back then as doing as little possible to get paid!!)) recounted that story, but it was altered to be a GPO party line on a couple of farms, one bark for farm A and two for farm B...

It's funny how stories end up being changed and altered the more they are told...