Jasper and the Yeast Rolls

This story (author unknown) has been 'floating around' the internet for a few months. I found a discussion of it on alt.folklore.urban. There's an easier to read version of it here. It involves a fox terrier named Jasper who eats twelve uncooked yeast rolls that a woman leaves out to rise before baking. The yeast begins to rise in the dog's stomach, causing him to swell up like a balloon:
"He looked like a combination of the Pillsbury dough boy and the Michelin Tire man wrapped up in fur. He groaned when he walked. I swear even his cheeks were bloated."
The next day it's worse. The yeast has begun to ferment inside the dog's stomach, causing Jasper to become drunk: "the darn dog was as drunk as a sailor on his first leave. He was running into walls, falling flat on his butt and most of the time when he was walking his front half was going one direction and the other half was either dragging on the grass or headed 90 degrees in another direction."
Finally, it ends with fermented yeast burps, farts, and poops (that are rock-hard like 'Portland cement'). Now, this all sounds an awful lot like an urban legend, especially since it comes from an anonymous source. Would the yeast actually begin to rise and ferment in the dog's stomach, or would it be killed by stomach acid? I'm not sure. I'm guessing that given the quantity of yeast involved (twelve rolls), the yeast might actually cause the dog's stomach to swell quite a bit... so something like this could happen. Though whether it actually did happen is anyone's guess.

Animals Food Urban Legends

Posted on Sun Dec 05, 2004



Comments

yeast needs air to rise and ferment, which i doubt would be present in enough quantity in a dog's stomach. nice story though!
Posted by Nick  on  Sun Dec 05, 2004  at  04:10 PM
I don't know about dogs' reactions, but humans reactions are similar...I love raw bread dough, but only in small portions (smaller than a dinner roll) ... the physiological effects can be quite...unique....
Posted by Karen  on  Sun Dec 05, 2004  at  09:18 PM
It is a perfect way to hunt bears, I tell you.
Posted by Loxx  on  Mon Dec 06, 2004  at  10:27 AM
I think this is more of a tall tale than an urban legend, but it predates the Internet by a long, long time.
When I was a young boy, my grandmother (who was born in 1900) used to tell a very similar story about what happened to her dog, Toby, when SHE was a girl (which, if true, would place the incident around 1905-1915). Toby got into my great-grandmother's pan of bread dough and ate his fill. Then he went to take a nap next to the wood-burning stove, which (when the yeast rose) made him swell up like a huge balloon with a dog's head, legs, and tail. According to Grandma, the swelling gradually went down again and Toby survived. She didn't say anything about him being drunk or hung over afterward. Burps, flatulence, and feces weren't the sort of thing my Grandma would have carried on about in mixed company, so I don't know about that part of it.
She always told this as something that really happened and that she personally witnessed, and she was a woman of unimpeachable character and veracity-- at least as far as I know.
Posted by Big Gary C  on  Mon Dec 06, 2004  at  06:23 PM
By the way, yeast doesn't need air to ferment. If it did, thing like beer and champagne would be impossible-- they are fermented in sealed containers with very little air.
Posted by Big Gary C  on  Mon Dec 06, 2004  at  06:27 PM
Someone with a camera and a chihuahua could settle this debate pretty quickly.
Posted by bobo  on  Mon Dec 06, 2004  at  08:35 PM
This story is still around? I got it in a chain-letter email years ago, probably around 1997/1998. It's a tall tale, though every one of the dozen replies wanted to cite a reputable source. Typical email garbage.
Posted by John  on  Tue Dec 07, 2004  at  04:13 PM
I should have mentioned above that my Grandma died in 1973, so her story may have been garbage, but it definitely wasn't "email garbage."
Posted by Big Gary C  on  Tue Dec 07, 2004  at  07:24 PM
This actually happened to a relative of mine--great-aunt or great great grandmother. I realize that the fact that I can't remember exactly who it was makes it sound all the more dubious, but I swear it's true, and it differs from this one.

The dog ate the bread, the yeast began to rise in its stomach, etc. So, this relative of mine (I do think it was my greatgrandmother) called the vet, and he told her to carry the dog out into the snow and cover his stomach with it. I remember vividly the detail of this tiny woman (must have been my mom's gran, Ollie) carrying a large dog out into the snow.
Posted by Lucy  on  Wed Dec 08, 2004  at  05:50 PM
dont know about dogs and the wild details of the story, but humans can get a stomachache from eating too much bread dough
Posted by anonymous  on  Sat Apr 30, 2005  at  10:15 PM
This story must be fact, my dog is going through this right now. I am trying to find remedies for the problem. We are actually afraid it may end up even worse for her health wise!!!!
Posted by LAURA FAULKNER  on  Sat Jul 01, 2006  at  05:27 PM
THIS STORY IS IN FACT TRUE! THE DOG BELONGS TO MY BOSS'S BROTHER!
Posted by Natalie  on  Fri Feb 01, 2008  at  04:30 PM
Crazy true story!
Posted by Katy Pendelton  on  Thu Jul 24, 2008  at  07:48 AM
Commenting is not available in this channel entry.