Hundreds of dachshunds chase record in Hungary
Throngs of dachshunds assembled to strut their stubby stuff in Hungary on Thursday as they tried to fetch a record for the country's biggest ever single-breed dog walk.
Hundreds of dogs and their owners gathered at the Budapest City Park and walked in a long, noisy loop in the spring sun. The parade of pups was under the observation of the Hungarian Records Association, which was tasked with determining whether the canine cavalcade could be officially entered into the record books.
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Dachshunds and their owners take part in an attempt to set Hungary's record for the largest dog walk of a single breed (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Istvan Sebestyen, registrar and president of the association, said his organisation would carefully tally the number of participating dogs — a challenge, he said, when so many hounds and humans were gathered in one place.
'We don't usually take dachshunds on walks in droves, so this experiment has to correspond to our system of rules,' he said.
Dachshunds, a short, muscular breed with stubby legs, were first bred in Germany, and remain one of Hungary's most popular dog breeds.
Also known as 'wiener dogs' or 'sausage dogs' for their long, low-slung bodies, they were initially bred for hunting badgers and other burrowing creatures. But their loyal, curious and playful nature has also made them popular as family pets.
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The record to beat was 897, set in Regensburg last summer (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
In Munich, Germany, in 1972, a rainbow-colored dachshund named Waldi became the first official mascot in the history of the Olympic Summer Games.
Last September, the German city of Regensburg set the current world record for the largest dachshund dog walk as hundreds of the breed paraded through the medieval town centre.
While some counts from Regensburg put the number of dogs at 1,175, Guinness World Records could only confirm 897.
On Thursday, Lili Horvath and her one-year-old dachshund Zabos participated in the walk in Budapest. She said her furry friend 'has very deeply human qualities and is very loyal, he's really a love bomb'.
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Officials confirmed that 500 dachshunds were present, enough to set a new Hungarian record but not enough to land the Guinness World Record title (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Valeria Fabian, who was walking her dachshund Zsebi, saw it differently.
'Few people are capable of giving this kind of selflessness, because people don't have as much love and self-sacrifice as a dog can give a human,' she said.
By the end of the record-seeking walk, the Hungarian Records Association determined that 500 dachshunds had been present — enough to set a Hungarian record, but still short of the Guinness mark set in Regensburg.
Organisers, undeterred, vowed to try again next year, giving them plenty of time to muster more mutts for another shot at the title.
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The Guardian
6 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘We'll have done it first': what it takes to set a new Guinness World Record
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The process of getting a new record idea approved by Guinness took her a year and three failed applications before the record book finally gave her the green light. So why not just break an existing record? 'I know how much effort and time it takes to set a record, so I really don't want to break anyone's and mortify them,' she says. 'I didn't want to hurt anyone.' Saseendran spent 18 months practising for her record attempt. She built a database of over 17,000 airport codes and assembled a training toolkit that included aviation maps, flashcards, cognitive training apps and good old-fashioned games of chess (to sharpen her focus). She'd set her alarm for 4.30am every day to practise before her infant woke up. As well as memorising codes, she had to learn to speak very quickly so she could verbally identify two airport names each second. 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Metro
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2 days ago
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Divers uncover shipwreck of Glasgow vessel almost 140 years after it vanished without trace
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A SHIPWRECK mystery has been solved after divers discovered a vessel from Glasgow which had sunk nearly 140 years ago. Dominic Robinson, a former Army officer and military helicopter pilot, captured incredible footage of the wreck. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 4 Explorers have solved the mystery of a Glasgow-built ship which sank nearly 140 years ago Credit: Jam Press/Rick Ayrton 4 A team of divers went below the waves to scour the wreck site Credit: Jam Press 4 Dominic Robertson was desperate to know the origins of the doomed ship Credit: Jam Press 4 A plate with the Cunard Steamship Company logo was key in identifying the vessel Credit: Jam Press/Rick Ayrton The 50-year-old set sail with fellow explorers Rick and Andy, skipper James, and crew member Liz. They carefully examined the site of the wreck and also discovered old crockery, which was key in identifying the wreck. After finding a plate with the Cunard Steamship Company logo, Dominic was able to reveal that the wreck he found was that of the SS Nantes. The ship tragically collided with a German sailing vessel, the Theodor Ruger, in November 1988, as reported by NeedToKnow. Dominic, of Plymouth, Devon, said: 'The Nantes was built in 1874, in Glasgow, and very sadly lasted a mere 14 years before it was sunk. 'It was, when it was sunk, on passage from Liverpool to La Havre in France, carrying cargo of coal. 'Sadly, pretty much everybody who was on board the Nantes died. 'There were only three survivors, two guys who jumped onto the Theodor Ruger and then another guy who stayed on the Nantes and was part of the team that sort of tried to keep it afloat. 'Unfortunately, the Nantes went down about ten hours later in the early hours of the morning and he was the only person who was picked up from that. 'It's quite a sad story.' Hundreds of pupils cheered on a teacher about to undergo lifesaving brain surgery - by rocking out to ACDC'S Thunderstruck After the ship went down, it became lost until Dominic and his team discovered it. Dominic, who has been diving for around 35 years, heard about the unidentified shipwreck from the UK Hydrographic Office. Afterwards, the "wreck was essentially lost, obviously you're dealing in a period with no satellite navigation", said Dr Bennett. He added that while the crew tried to save the ship, it "drifted for several hours, before it finally made its way to the bottom, sadly, with many of its crewmen on board". He said the wreck was lost until a local dive team identified it last year. Dominic added: 'We've got the size [of this wreck] from the information on the UK Hydrographic Office. We know it's about 78 or 79 metres long. 'We know that there's a Cunard plate from it - so, basically what we're looking for, and we know it's old as well. 'So what you do is you try to find a list of all the Cunard ships that were sunk. 'You then try and narrow them down to a relatively small one, and an old one. 'We obviously know where it sank, so if you can find information about the sinking and the wreck that aligns all those things up, then it's fairly straightforward to identify it.' The Cunard plate, which Dominic found, was crucial in the ship's identification. He said: 'Even though the wreck had been dived before, it was never identified, and this small piece of broken plate allowed us to do exactly that. 'The more eagle-eyed amongst you may already have noticed the logo from the famous Cunard shipping line. 'And not surprisingly, this is what gave us the most significant clue.'
