A typical Chesapeake Bay Retriever tops out around 24.4 mph in Fast CAT. The fastest one on record ran 30.71 mph. 1.7 mph faster than the typical dog (22.7 mph). The fastest Chesapeake Bay Retrievers outrun Usain Bolt's top speed by 2.9 mph.
Based on the best Fast CAT run of 268 Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, a typical Chesapeake Bay Retriever tops out at 24.4 mph, and half of them run faster than 25.1 mph. That makes the Chesapeake Bay Retriever the 32nd fastest of the 226 breeds that have run Fast CAT.
Only 3 Chesapeake Bay Retrievers have ever broken 30 mph, and 142 have topped 25 mph.
Among the most popular Sporting breeds, the typical Chesapeake Bay Retriever is faster than 6 of 8. The Vizsla is the quickest of the bunch at 24.9 mph, and the Weimaraner (24.2 mph) runs closest to the Chesapeake Bay Retriever. Over Fast CAT's 100 yards, the 0.5 mph gap to the Vizsla is about 0.16 seconds.
Wading River's Little Girl Gidget holds the fastest consistent run by any Chesapeake Bay Retriever: 30.71 mph at the Del-Otse-Nango Kennel Club in New York on October 20, 2024. That's 100 yards in 6.66 seconds.
AKC's results also show Redlion's Come Back Circus Traveler at 31.09 mph, but that dog's next-best run is 26.81 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 Chesapeake Bay Retriever is Bertha, with a best of 28.41 mph over 26 logged runs.
Not really, but more are running. In 2018, 36 Chesapeake Bay Retrievers ran Fast CAT, typically at 24.7 mph. In 2025 it was 97 dogs at 24.3 mph.
North Carolina has the most Chesapeake Bay Retriever runs, 441 of them, followed by Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey. The fastest Chesapeake Bay Retriever run in North Carolina is 29.64 mph.
Any AKC-registered Chesapeake Bay Retriever 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.