Benjamin Radford is esteemed in skeptic circles, where he is known for his investigations into cryptological claims. But earlier this year he turned his skeptical spectacles away from Bigfoot and toward animals known to exist, specifically dogs and frogs. He looked into whether two time-honored propositions are true: That dogs will accept a gradually shortened lease until they are eventually uncomplaining about being immobile; and similarly, whether frogs will stay in a gradually-boiling pot until their amphibian selves expire.

Radford noted that the canine claim rests on the genuine notion of habituation. Keeping with the dog theme, Radford wrote that someone with a fear of such animals might be able to overcome this through a series of gradual steps: They could stay in a room with a small, leashed, friendly dog for a minute, then upgrade that to petting the leashed dog, then the canine is allowed to be unchained, and finally the person is holding the animal. Radford explained that this method has three components: Frequency, distance, and duration. As applied to fear of dogs, the person slowly increases how often they see the dog, how close it gets, and how long the session lasts.

But while fear of dogs could be overcome, would those same animals unconsciously acquiesce to having their leash gradually shortened until they were unable to move?

Radford wrote that this assertion is often presented in this manner: “If you reduced a dog’s chain one link at a time, every few days, until his chain is so short he won’t be able to move, he will never resist because he is conditioned to the loss of his freedom slowly, over time. That’s what’s happening to you.”

Of note, this claim is frequently employed as a metaphor intended to expose some government evil, corporate strategy, or clandestine plot. An entity is gradually conditioning you, so you’d best be aware lest you fall for it.

But what you would really be falling for is an urban legend. Dogs notice, although they are less likely to object to a small change than a large one. But they will eventually resist. Dogs can sense the tension from a leash, which is why a trained one will respond to its owner moving it one direction or pulling on the leash to get it to stop. As to length being lessened, the dog will object in the form of barking and lunging since a shortened leash limits its freedom and ability to respond to threats. Owing to a dog’s oppositional reflex – the instinct to push against any pressure they feel on their bodies – they may exert more force on a leash when they feel continual tension, and shortening the leash can spark this reaction.

This could play out over several days, whereas the frog in boiling pot myth can be quickly dispatched with. Radford cited University of Oklahoma zoology professor Victor Hutchinson, who called hooey on the notion. He told of tests in which, “The water in which a frog is submerged is heated gradually at about two degrees per minute. As the temperature of the water is gradually increased, the frog will eventually become more and more active in attempts to escape the heated water. If the container size and opening allow the frog to jump out, it will do so.”

So there is no need to subject the animals to any cruel experiments to see if these notions are true, they have been shown to be false. There would be more value in searching for Bigfoot.