Auf wiedersehen, pet? Sausage dogs could be banned in Germany

Sausage dogs could soon be banned in Germany amid concerns their short legs and long spines make them vulnerable to back problems.

Germany’s kennel club has launched a petition opposing a draft law which would prohibit breeding practices that it is claimed inflict long-term suffering on animals.

On Wednesday morning, more than 14,000 people had signed it. It states: “Many of the proposed changes, such as regulating the trade in animals online or taking action against the illegal puppy trade, make sense ... but the new animal protection law contains requirements that could mean the end of many healthy dog breeds in Germany.”

The country’s agriculture ministry has denied the reform would amount to a ban on the sausage dog - dachshund, which is a symbol of Germany.

A Government spokesman said that the reform was specifically about a ban on “torture breeding”, which it defined as breeding traits that inflict “pain, suffering and damage” on future generations. Sausage dogs are very popular in Germany. The dogs were first bred in the Middle Ages to have stubby legs to help hunters flush badgers and foxes out of burrows.