Thousands of sausage dogs invade Southwold beach for meet up

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.”