\Cur"tail dog`\ (d[o^]g`; 115).
A dog with a docked tail; formerly, the dog of a person not
qualified to course, which, by the forest laws, must have its
tail cut short, partly as a mark, and partly from a notion
that the tail is necessary to a dog in running; hence, a dog
not fit for sporting.

      Hope is a curtail dog in some affairs.   --Shak.