A properly docked tail is at about 40% of its original length. Plenty of length to see how it is carried when pointing. It shouldn't be a little stub. Regardless of the questionable choices in dogs breeds as subjects for engraving I still think these Parkers are beautiful guns.

Here's an old Elhew throwback (1996-2010) who usually scored ok for style in NSTRA trials and passed the drug screen for viagra.

No, I intentionally described it as a post-Remington era example in an effort to give the Repros a little love and recognition they so richly deserve. They're part of the game, too; you know.:whistle::)

I agree wholeheartedly.

They're the best buy out there for a very nicely made SXS.

Dean, if you look back into the General Parker Discussions on 1/28/13 "who let the dogs out", I think you will find several examples of dogs with elevated tails.
i.e. post #18 / by Robin Lewis $200 grade Springer? with bobbed tail, post #80 by Daryl Corona 1922 D grade setter, post #139 & 140 by Calvin Humburg, post #153 by Jeff Kuss, post #160 by Mark Conrad and post #172 by Peter Clark. HTH.

Here is a link to the thread Mr. Verry chased down for us:

http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthr...highlight=dogs

Thanks Fred and Mike.
Very few dogs in that thread are holding their tails in what I would consider a "distinctly elevated" position. I'll dismiss the springers in Robin's contribution because they are not on point but are doing what springers were trained to do back then which is to flush or 'spring' the birds. The setter on the Remington CHE Russ shows is, as I expected of some Remington era Parkers, holding its tail in a distinctly elevated position as are the dogs on that nice Model 21, which is also a later gun. A few others are but less than 2% of all shown are.

Probably a sacrilege, but if you're going to talk about dog tails, you have to include the excited flailing of a springer with a nose full of pheasant. Field bred springers have their trails docked long to accentuate that motion, No stubby show dog tails for us! Now, if we could get some sort of hologram on a Parker that showed that movement!

Setters were bred for catching birds with a net. So the Setter would go on point, the hunters would cast a net in front of his nose and sometimes catch the birds. It would be a real disadvantage for the netters if the tail stuck straight up I think.

Edit: I don't know this but judging by my late Setters' fondness for rabbit hunting they may have also netted rabbits.

This oughta start a fight --- The setter/pointers were the peasants' dogs - peasants didn't have guns, and netting was their way of poaching the Lord's game for dinner. Spaniels were the dogs of royalty - used to flush game for the king's falcons