Literal translation
he doesn't tie up his dog with sausages
Meaning
he's not one for generosity, he watches his pennies
Explanation
The image, comical and concrete, imagines what a person of absurd generosity might do: tie up their dog with a string of sausages as a leash, an edible and costly item that any reasonably sensible person would keep for the table. Saying that someone does not tie up their dog with sausages means, through this negation, that they are careful not to waste their goods that way and instead show a strict economy, often judged excessive by whoever is speaking. The expression matches its French equivalent exactly, testifying to a shared popular humor on both sides of the language built around this image of the dog and the sausage. The verb estaca (to tie up) also carries, according to the dictionary, the derived sense of stingy, confirming that the link between tying up and stinginess is already built into the vocabulary itself. The register is familiar, tinged with good-natured irony, with no real severity.