At first, they were referred to as Frankfurters, I THINK. How do you suppose hot dog came along?!? lol

According to concessionaire Harry Stevens, who first served grilled franks on a split roll in about 1900, the franks were dubbed hot dogs by that prolific word inventor sports cartoonist T.A. Dorgan after he sampled them. “TAD” possibly had in mind the fact that many people believed frankfurters were made from dog meat at the time, and no doubt heard Stevens’ vendors crying out “Get your red hots!” on cold days. Dorgan even drew the hot dog as a dachshund on a roll, leading the indignant Coney Island Chamber of Commerce to ban the use of the term “hot dog” by concessionaires there (they could be called only “Coney Islands, red hots, and frankfurters”). “Hot dog!” became an ejaculation of approval by 1906, one that is still heard occasionally; “hot diggity dog!” was invented during the Roaring Twenties. Dorgan at least popularized the term “hot dog,” which may have been around since the late 1880s.

looks like a dogs tail

The night lunch wagons (popular in cities and on college campuses) that served hot sausages were called "dog wagons" by the 1890s. At Yale University, a "dog wagon" called "The Kennel Club" opened in 1894. The first known use of the phrase "hot dog" (sausage) appears in print on October 19, 1895 in the Yale Record of New Haven, Connecticut, which reads: "They contentedly munched hot dogs during the whole service;" two weeks prior, the Yale Record recorded: "Tis dogs' delight to bark and bite, Thus does the adage run. But I delight to bite the dog when placed inside a bun." Hot dog became an extension of the older use of dog to mean a sausage































en.wikipedia.org

I heard it was called hot dog because a vendor @ a ballpark couldn't spell dachshund