A typical Australian Cattle Dog tops out around 23.5 mph in Fast CAT. The fastest one on record ran 32.57 mph. 0.8 mph faster than the typical dog (22.7 mph). The fastest Australian Cattle Dogs outrun Usain Bolt's top speed by 4.8 mph.
Blue Heeler, Red Heeler, Queensland Heeler: same breed, same answer. Based on the best Fast CAT run of 873 Australian Cattle Dogs, a typical Australian Cattle Dog tops out at 23.5 mph, and half of them run faster than 24.4 mph. That makes the Australian Cattle Dog the 56th fastest of the 226 breeds that have run Fast CAT.
Only 13 Australian Cattle Dogs have ever broken 30 mph, and 362 have topped 25 mph.
Among the most popular Herding breeds, the typical Australian Cattle Dog is faster than 4 of 8. The Belgian Malinois is the quickest of the bunch at 26.9 mph, and the German Shepherd Dog (23.7 mph) runs closest to the Australian Cattle Dog. Over Fast CAT's 100 yards, the 3.4 mph gap to the Belgian Malinois is about 1.09 seconds.
Rose Of Earl holds the fastest consistent run by any Australian Cattle Dog: 32.57 mph at the Tulsa Sighthound Association in Oklahoma on May 30, 2022. That's 100 yards in 6.28 seconds.
AKC's results also show Galaxy9s Detour To Keep Her at 33.24 mph, but that dog's next-best run is 30.84 mph. A jump that big is usually a timing or typing error, so we flag it rather than crown it.
On Dash-Hound, the fastest Australian Cattle Dog is Snyper, with a best of 32.06 mph over 25 logged runs.
Australian Cattle Dogs come in more than one Fast CAT height group. 428 measured over 18 inches and averaged 23.5 mph; 443 measured 12 to 18 inches and averaged 23.5 mph. Smaller dogs earn extra points per mph toward their titles, so the shorter ones rack up titles faster.
Not really, but more are running. In 2017, 45 Australian Cattle Dogs ran Fast CAT, typically at 24.0 mph. In 2025 it was 269 dogs at 23.7 mph.
Florida has the most Australian Cattle Dog runs, 1,054 of them, followed by Virginia, Oklahoma, Georgia. The fastest Australian Cattle Dog run in Florida is 31.86 mph.
Any AKC-registered Australian Cattle Dog over 12 months old can enter, and your dog runs alone down a straight 100 yards. Most dogs figure out the lure fast. Have someone your dog will run to waiting past the finish line, because a dog that stops to check on you can lose a second or two.
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Speeds from AKC Fast CAT results. Photographers: spotted your work? Tell us at [email protected] and we'll credit it or take it down.