A typical German Shepherd Dog tops out around 23.7 mph in Fast CAT. The fastest one on record ran 33.94 mph. 1.0 mph faster than the typical dog (22.7 mph). The fastest German Shepherd Dogs outrun Usain Bolt's top speed by 6.1 mph.
German Shepherd, GSD: same breed, same answer. Based on the best Fast CAT run of 3,588 German Shepherd Dogs, a typical German Shepherd Dog tops out at 23.7 mph, and half of them run faster than 24.4 mph. That makes the German Shepherd Dog the 48th fastest of the 226 breeds that have run Fast CAT.
Only 39 German Shepherd Dogs have ever broken 30 mph, and 1,500 have topped 25 mph.
Among the most popular Herding breeds, the typical German Shepherd Dog is faster than 5 of 8. The Belgian Malinois is the quickest of the bunch at 26.9 mph, and the Australian Shepherd (23.8 mph) runs closest to the German Shepherd Dog. Over Fast CAT's 100 yards, the 3.1 mph gap to the Belgian Malinois is about 1.01 seconds.
Noblecrest's Jade Midori Grã¼N holds the fastest consistent run by any German Shepherd Dog: 33.94 mph at the Doberman Pinscher Club of Houston in Texas on September 13, 2020. That's 100 yards in 6.03 seconds.
AKC's results also show R'Zoya Vom Haus Morrisson at 39.49 mph, but that dog's next-best run is 26.43 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 German Shepherd Dog is Mingo, with a best of 31.66 mph over 18 logged runs.
Not lately. The typical German Shepherd Dog ran 24.5 mph in 2016 (39 dogs) and 23.6 mph in 2025 (959 dogs). As more everyday pets join in, the average moves around.
Florida has the most German Shepherd Dog runs, 3,847 of them, followed by Ohio, Virginia, Wisconsin. The fastest German Shepherd Dog run in Florida is 32.26 mph.
Any AKC-registered German Shepherd 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.
Fast CAT rankings · How fast is a dog?
Speeds from AKC Fast CAT results. Photographers: spotted your work? Tell us at [email protected] and we'll credit it or take it down.