A typical Cavalier King Charles Spaniel tops out around 18.2 mph in Fast CAT. The fastest one on record ran 27.32 mph. 4.5 mph slower than the typical dog (22.7 mph). Even a typical Cavalier King Charles Spaniel would beat most people in a 100-yard sprint.
Cavalier: same breed, same answer. Based on the best Fast CAT run of 836 Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, a typical Cavalier King Charles Spaniel tops out at 18.2 mph, and half of them run faster than 18.7 mph. That makes the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel the 180th fastest of the 226 breeds that have run Fast CAT.
Only 1 Cavalier King Charles Spaniel has ever broken 30 mph, and 17 have topped 25 mph.
Among the most popular Toy breeds, the typical Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is faster than 5 of 8. The Italian Greyhound is the quickest of the bunch at 23.5 mph, and the Papillon (17.7 mph) runs closest to the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Over Fast CAT's 100 yards, the 5.3 mph gap to the Italian Greyhound is about 2.53 seconds.
Delta Phi holds the fastest consistent run by any Cavalier King Charles Spaniel: 27.32 mph at the Treasure Coast Kennel Club of Florida in Florida on October 17, 2021. That's 100 yards in 7.49 seconds.
AKC's results also show Crawford's Athena at 35.27 mph, but that dog's next-best run is 23.70 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 Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is Inareh, with a best of 23.54 mph over 19 logged runs.
Cavalier King Charles Spaniels come in more than one Fast CAT height group. 457 measured under 12 inches and averaged 17.7 mph; 377 measured 12 to 18 inches and averaged 18.8 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, 35 Cavalier King Charles Spaniels ran Fast CAT, typically at 17.9 mph. In 2025 it was 297 dogs at 18.1 mph.
Virginia has the most Cavalier King Charles Spaniel runs, 1,840 of them, followed by Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida. The fastest Cavalier King Charles Spaniel run in Virginia is 23.19 mph.
Any AKC-registered Cavalier King Charles Spaniel 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.