From the 1993 STCA Standard: The Tail should be about seven inches long and never cut. It should be set on high and carried erectly, either vertical or with a slight curve forward, but not over the back. The tail should be thick at the base, tapering gradually to a point and covered with short, hard hair.
At first sight it seems ridiculous to condemn a good dog because the tail is not correctly carried, but the sad consequence of the latitude this view engenders is that in a very short time correct carriage almost ceases to exist. W. L. McCandlish |
| In the evolution of the Scottie from the original working dog to today's modern show dog, the carrot-shaped tail (thick at the base, tapering to a point) has always been a more important part of Scottish Terrier anatomy than it might seem at first glance. In evaluating the Scottish Terrier tail, there are four features to be considered: tail set, length, thickness, and carriage. |
Tail set is the term used to describe the placement of the tail in relationship to the back of the dog. A properly constructed Scottish Terrier has a high tail set, meaning that that the root of the tail is level with the topline. A high tail set is desirable not only for aesthetic reasons, but also for functional reasons. Several of the thigh muscles are attached to the fused vertebrae in front of the tail, so a dog with a high tail set has longer muscles and is therefore quicker in action. The dog below has the correct high tail-set. |
