Yanking your chain

Posted by ESC April 03, 2008 at 16:19:In reply to Yanking your chain posted by Phil Short on April 03, 2008 at 07:57:

Where did the phrase "Yanking your chain" come from??

We have had previous discussions on this phrase (search under "yank chain"), for example:
www.phrases.org.uk bulletin_board 8 messages 460.html The image I get is a cartoon dog (Hector the Bulldog?) having his chain yanked.