Warning: Sausage dog on premises

Long, short-legged and – according to American researchers – fierce, the dachshund has been found to be more aggressive than the feared Rottweiler or British bulldog. The so-called ‘sausage dog’ comes first on a list of the most viol

A team of zoologists from the University of Pennsylvania carried out the research. They questioned over six thousand dog owners from ten states about their pet’s behaviour and found some surprising results.

It seems the little dogs pack a lot of aggression. One in five ‘Wiener-dogs’ had either bit or tried to bite a stranger, said owners, while one in twelve at some point had dug their tiny teeth into their masters.

Dachshunds were bred as hunting dogs, with a keen sense of smell and a small frame to let them wriggle into badger dens. Traces of this predatory instinct make them more aggressive than Alsatian police dogs, placed far down the zoologists’ list.

Police reports of dog bites, in which pit bull terriers and Rottweilers often lead, would seem to contradict the research.

The reason is probably the simple embarrassment of the victims, according to the zoologists – who would go to a police station with a straight face to report being bitten by a ‘handbag dog’?