I thought that I might be the only one that cared about what sounds the modem was making, but lately I've found out that there are a few others who need it, including some who are NOT hearing impaired. In the lab at school recently, one of the lab staff said to me, "We've got another modem, but it's not loud enough. I've cranked it up to 11, but I think we might have to solder on a bigger speaker, or put a stethoscope next to the machine." I hit the key for dial, and Mac put his paw on my knee. Half a minute later he did it again, and we were connected. My associate asked, "How did he do that?". I said, "He's got better ears than we do."

And then this morning, somebody else asked me about it. So, here's how I taught Mac to alert to the modem sounds. As with all "HOW-TO"s, wait and see what everybody else has to say in response. This is how I did it. It is not "THE way", nor "the RIGHT way", just A way.

If you've got an external modem available, use it - those lights tell you what's going on. Turn up the volume of the modem at least to start with. If the modem has software control of the volume, try to find where the modem initialization string is stored by your computer. Find the 'L' in the string and make sure that the number after the 'L' is a 3.

Mac alerts me to a squeaker, which I use in training other alerts. He signals me by placing his paw on my knee. He's too big for jumping on me, and since I keep his nails trimmed and don't wear stockings :-), it's a comfortable alert. Before you can start training a modem alert (this way), the dog has to have some sort of alert that you can cue.

I put Mac in a SIT alongside my chair.

I set the phone number to my office across town, so that it would dial but wouldn't actually connect to anything yet. I hit DIAL. Mac expressed a little interest in the sound, but didn't do anything. I squeaked his squeaker. Mac signalled me, and I rewarded him. Two more times and I didn't need to use the squeaker anymore. We practiced that. A lot.

Then I set the phone number to my dial-in number. When the modem dialed, Mac signalled me. When it connected, he looked at it, not sure what to do. I squeaked his squeaker. He signalled me. I disconnected and tried again. He signalled me for the dialing, and again for the carrier tone. I rewarded him. I kept his squeaker handy, but didn't need it again for that. I thought that I might need it when I switched modems, but Mac knew immediately what that "cookie sound" was.

I frequently, but not always, reward him for the signal. Now I can know when the modem dials and/or connects without always being able to hear it. Mac has been doing that alert reliably a couple of times a day.

diy4@xenosoft.com