Stern Observations

A Brief Analysis Of Pointing Style A Century Ago

One of the most frequent criticisms leveled at field trialers is their ‘obsession with twelve o’clock tails,’ and there is some validity to the charge. An old Venango Club handbill from the 1940’s contains the slogan that grouse trials are "where class dogs originated." Indeed it was Sam Light, who was the chief of that old grouse club, who turned a preference for high on both ends pointing style from a preference into an insistence.

Yet the question is frequently asked, what comprised pointing style ‘way back when’? Wondering what dogs pointed like in terms of style and carriage over a century ago is not as easy as it would seem. There are several sources of information: photographic and artistic renderings, and the written word of experts of the time.

In terms of photography, any individual photo might be suspect because it might not have captured the dog’s true pose. Painters were notorious for idealizing their subjects. Old writings about "loftiness on point," and "stylish on point," likely had a different meaning to the person who wrote it a long time ago and the person who reads it today. What consituted ‘loftiness’ or ‘stylish’ was not explained in detail.

Case in point is a description of bird work by the Lewellin Setter Paliacho in the Pennsylvania trials of 1913, where the dog pinned a covey of wild quail in the corner of a fencerow. The description was written by the most prominent historian of bird dog deeds of the era, Albert H. Hochwalt, who was actually judging the 1913 trial when the bird work took place and about which he would write "It was a heat composed of a variety of episodes, but there was something so classy in the way he caught scent of those birds huddled in the fence corner, that it appealed to the judges, and no doubt to the specatators as well. Paliacho was awarded first…" What was it about the bird work that Hochwalt found "classy" and appealling to both he and the spectators? It was how the dog pointed: Paliacho "…flitted through a pasture, and like a flash, dropped to a point. He was down, but his head was up and it was the picture of intensity." Hochwalt goes on to say that the win qualified Paliacho for the National Championship in 1914, which he won. Needless to say, most field trialers of today would cringe at the sight of a dog ‘dropping to a point’ and few would describe such work as "classy."

Looking at the photographs and paintings from a number of sources from 1891 to 1923, there is no doubt that a dog pointing with a tail about back level was predominant, and was no doubt the preference. There are some higher tails here and there, but not many. Count Noble’s owner mounted him with a level tail. The last Llewellin Setter to win a National Championsip, La Besita, is photographed on point in The Modern Setter (Hochwalt, 1923), the stern level.

Yet the written accounts from those same works indicate that the tail position was not as big of a deal as it is for many today. If there was a strong preference for a level tail, the early writings certainly do not indicate it. The tail position is seldom mentioned. Hochwalt’s The Modern Setter goes into great detail, for pages on end, on physical features of various dogs, including muzzle, skull, quarters, body length, leg length and so forth, but rarely describes tail set. He describes a number of dogs such as Momoney, and the many descendents of Prince Rodney (including Paliacho) which ‘fall into points.’ But little is said about low tail position (or high), and dropping on point obviously was not considered a major fault if at all.

As to a dog’s carriage while in motion, Hochwalt does mention loftiness as being a desirable trait, but he likely was considering head position. After describing the setter Momoney as "one of the grandest ground-workers that ever appeared at field trials.," Hochwalt get more specific. "He had that smooth gliding stride which carries a dog over the course with the least possible effort. It was a gait like many of his ancestors; fox-like, with flag just below the level of his back. A style which Stonehenge, as authority, says is the proper way for a setter to run. On point he was rather low stationed; in fact, he dropped too many of his points." Once again, there is no mention of tail position on point. And the dog was a noted trial winner who sired a prominent early grouse champion called Lamberton’s Mack.

As to Llewellin setters, Hochwalt talks of "widely divergent types," but also notes that their "tails inclined to curl up over the back like a foxhound," a situation called ‘sickle tail’ today. Joseph Graham (The Sporting Dog, 1904), wrote of, "Another unfashionable attribute … charged with some asperity against the Llewellins. It is a tendency to carry a high flag in ranging and to take a point with the high tail in the same high position." Graham sees this a great utility for the sportsman, since the dog can more easily be seen, but he adds, "It must be admitted that the attitude loses from the standpoint of style as compared with the low stern and more extended and intense position of the pointer and of some setters…"

It was these ‘attitudes’ struck by a dog on point that had their appeal to the early fan. Hochwalt wrote of "the appearance of suddenly suspended motion so characteristic of the class dog…" These attitudes would vary from dog to dog and tail position was apparently not a big part of what drew ‘Ooohs and Ahhhs’ back then. A dog would hit a bird hard and drop. He might otherwise stand tall on another bird and stretch out low on still another as circumtances dictated. In a telling passage Hochwalt a criticizes a dog for being "mechanical" adding, "there was nothing sensational about him. His points, while intense, were all of the same nature; there were no unusual attitudes, no variety…"

So there was not one set standard. The prevailing attitude toward a dog’s pointing attitude was: viva la difference!