(quote)Tail docked at approximately second joint, appears to be a continuation of the spine, and is carried only slightly above the horizontal when the dog is alert. (quote)
Doberman Pinscher Club of America | Home From the actual standard regarding the tail. Since it is so hard to find a true joint on a 3 day old puppy that is why it is approximate. There is no 3 inch in the standard as a show dock although most show tails are done at approximately the 3rd joint. If you go to the 4th joint by they will usually look out of place or starts to go towards the Weim look which is very incorrect for our breed.
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If you look at the example of the tail above you can see it is much shorter than we see in the ring most of the time. The Rottie tail is docked at the first joint and you basically can't see how it stands meaning gay or horizontal as it is too short for our breed.