I've had German Shorthaired Pointers since 1970. None of the males has ever (well, almost) lifted his leg.

GSP people have told me that not lifting the leg was a desirable trait encouraged in the breeding of GSPs and some other breeds of field dogs, the object being that raising a leg might rustle the tall grasses and prematurely flush the birds. It might also increase marking, which would be a distraction while the dog was working.

Along the same line of reasoning, they said that docking the tails, at least in field dogs, meant tail movement would not disturb the birds. Depending on the kind and height of indigenous grasses in the geography where the dog was bred had a lot to do with the length to which the breed's tail was docked.

I heard this consistently in those earlier years. I haven't heard any further talk about it until quite recently.

Just how much basis in fact the breeding explanation has, I don't know, but at the time, it sounded very reasonable.