diff --git a/cake/console/console_option_parser.php b/cake/console/console_option_parser.php
index 632969f539f..6719f812754 100644
--- a/cake/console/console_option_parser.php
+++ b/cake/console/console_option_parser.php
@@ -372,14 +372,20 @@ public function subcommands() {
 	}
 
 /**
- * Parse the argv array into a set of params and args.
+ * Parse the argv array into a set of params and args.  If $command is not null
+ * and $command is equal to a subcommand that has a parser, that parser will be used
+ * to parse the $argv
  *
- * @param array $argv Array of args (argv) to parse
+ * @param array $argv Array of args (argv) to parse.
+ * @param string $command The subcommand to use for parsing.
  * @return Array array($params, $args)
  * @throws InvalidArgumentException When an invalid parameter is encountered.
  *   RuntimeException when required arguments are not supplied.
  */
-	public function parse($argv) {
+	public function parse($argv, $command = null) {
+		if (isset($this->_subcommands[$command]) && $this->_subcommands[$command]->parser()) {
+			return $this->_subcommands[$command]->parser()->parse($argv);
+		}
 		$params = $args = array();
 		$this->_tokens = $argv;
 		while ($token = array_shift($this->_tokens)) {
@@ -435,6 +441,11 @@ public function help($subcommand = null) {
 				$out[] = $command->help($max);
 			}
 			$out[] = '';
+			$out[] = sprintf(
+				__('To see help on a subcommand use <info>`cake %s [subcommand] --help`</info>'), 
+				$this->command()
+			);
+			$out[] = '';
 		}
 		
 		if (!empty($this->_options)) {
diff --git a/cake/tests/cases/console/console_option_parser.test.php b/cake/tests/cases/console/console_option_parser.test.php
index b89f888b66e..7751a8d018d 100644
--- a/cake/tests/cases/console/console_option_parser.test.php
+++ b/cake/tests/cases/console/console_option_parser.test.php
@@ -464,6 +464,8 @@ function testHelpSubcommand() {
 
 method  This is another command
 
+To see help on a subcommand use <info>`cake mycommand [subcommand] --help`</info>
+
 <info>Options:</info>
 
 --help, -h  Display this help.
@@ -534,4 +536,32 @@ function testBuildFromArray() {
 		$args = $parser->arguments();
 		$this->assertEquals(2, count($args));
 	}
+
+/**
+ * test that parse() takes a subcommand argument, and that the subcommand parser
+ * is used.
+ *
+ * @return void
+ */
+	function testParsingWithSubParser() {
+		$parser = new ConsoleOptionParser();
+		$parser->addOption('primary')
+			->addArgument('one', array('required' => true, 'choices' => array('a', 'b')))
+			->addArgument('two', array('required' => true))
+			->addSubcommand('sub', array(
+				'parser' => array(
+					'options' => array(
+						'secondary' => array('boolean' => true),
+						'fourth' => array('help' => 'fourth option')
+					),
+					'arguments' => array(
+						'sub_arg' => array('choices' => array('c', 'd'))
+					)
+				)
+			));
+		
+		$result = $parser->parse(array('--secondary', '--fourth', '4', 'c'), 'sub');
+		$expected = array(array('secondary' => true, 'fourth' => '4'), array('c'));
+		$this->assertEquals($expected, $result, 'Sub parser did not parse request.');
+	}
 }
\ No newline at end of file