Rabid Toothpaste
If you brushed your teeth with baking soda and then rinsed with vinegar, would your mouth foam up like a rabid animal?
———- from Sarah Cady of Sioux Falls, SD
That’s how the Walt Disney special effects people made Old Yeller seem hydrophobic. The hardest part of preparing the illusion was getting the dog to brush with baking soda. Fooling the beast into biting a rabbit-shaped, vinegar-filled balloon was a snap. We have the dog and the effects crew to thank for the new baking soda flavored toothpastes that are now flooding the market. It was their initial research that proved it could be done, and it only took forty years to get the packaging and advertising right. Now, when you want to cop a rabid look, you can just brush with a baking soda toothpaste before you gargle with vinegar. Wearing a straight jacket rounds out the illusion, and braying like a mule as well as snarling makes for a convincing performance.
That’s how the Walt Disney special effects people made Old Yeller seem hydrophobic. The hardest part of preparing the illusion was getting the dog to brush with baking soda. Fooling the beast into biting a rabbit-shaped, vinegar-filled balloon was a snap. We have the dog and the effects crew to thank for the new baking soda flavored toothpastes that are now flooding the market. It was their initial research that proved it could be done, and it only took forty years to get the packaging and advertising right. Now, when you want to cop a rabid look, you can just brush with a baking soda toothpaste before you gargle with vinegar. Wearing a straight jacket rounds out the illusion, and braying like a mule as well as snarling makes for a convincing performance. 