One thousand sausage dogs invade beach for meet up

Kieran Smith and Megan Jones travelled to Southwold from Ipswich for the event, which is in its seventh year

Richard Knights/BBC Kieran Smith, a man with dark hair and is wearing a cream coloured jumper. He is holding a brown and white dog which is wearing a grey harness. He is stood next to Megan Jones, a woman with mid length brown hair and blonde streaks who has a pair of sunglasses on her head and is wearing a black jacket. — Kieran Smith and Megan Jones travelled to Southwold from Ipswich for the event, which is in its seventh year

More than 1,000 dachshunds gathered at a beach for an annual walk with their owners, the organiser of the event said.

The Southwold Sausage Walk saw people from across the UK and further afield, including Florida in the United States, meet on the Suffolk coast.

In 2022, the group set an unofficial record for the world’s biggest ever gathering of dogs of any single breed, with 2,238 dogs in attendance.

Laura Baggott, who has been organising the event since 2017, said: “It’s always weather dependant and luckily we had sunshine.”

Laura Baggott said there was about 1,000 dachshunds at the event

Richard Knights/BBC Lots of people walking on a beach with sausage dogs. — Laura Baggott said there was about 1,000 dachshunds at the event

The event was expected to bring together more than 500 sausage dogs, however, more than double that came on the day.

Ms Baggott said: “It’s such a good atmosphere and because it’s built over the years we now have stalls, we have music, we have a big raffle.

“I think just where it is in Southwold is such a lovely place, it’s dog friendly.”

Mike Evans came for the day from Colchester in Essex

Richard Knights/BBC Mike Evans a man with grey hair and a grey beard. He is wearing a grey zip up pullover and is holding two sausage dogs. The brown dog on the left is wearing a purple harness and the dog on the right is wearing a lime neon green harness. — Mike Evans came for the day from Colchester in Essex

The event is partly aimed at raising awareness and funds to combat intervertebral disc disease, which is common in sausage dogs due to their long bodies.

“You see so many people who now know each other,” Ms Baggot said. “Nobody is really left out, we all get to know each other. It’s just like a friends’ day out.”

The day also helps to raise funds and awareness for intervertebral disc disease, suffered by sausage dogs

Richard Knights/BBC A brown sausage dog pictured with a group of about six other sausage dogs. It is wearing a navy blue jacket which is patterned with green, grey and red little sausage dogs. — The day also helps to raise funds and awareness for intervertebral disc disease, suffered by sausage dogs

Ms Baggott said the beach was “absolutely packed” and she could not believe how she managed to organise such an event.

“It’s overwhelming when you see everyone on the beach and when you get home and see all the social media posts you’ve been tagged in, that’s overwhelming.

“You don’t realise how big it is. I’m very proud of it, I do feel like it’s very successful and it gets more successful every year.”

Now it’s in its seventh year, Ms Baggott already has big ambitions for when it reaches its 10th anniversary.

“My goal for it is to win that world record,” she said. “Have a statue of a sausage dog in Southwold.”

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