A typical Great Dane tops out around 22.1 mph in Fast CAT. The fastest one on record ran 29.73 mph. 0.6 mph slower than the typical dog (22.7 mph). The fastest Great Danes outrun Usain Bolt's top speed by 1.9 mph.
Based on the best Fast CAT run of 939 Great Danes, a typical Great Dane tops out at 22.1 mph, and half of them run faster than 22.9 mph. That makes the Great Dane the 99th fastest of the 226 breeds that have run Fast CAT.
Only 2 Great Danes have ever broken 30 mph, and 188 have topped 25 mph.
Among the most popular Working breeds, the typical Great Dane is faster than 4 of 8. The Boxer is the quickest of the bunch at 25.2 mph, and the Cane Corso (22.1 mph) runs closest to the Great Dane. Over Fast CAT's 100 yards, the 3.0 mph gap to the Boxer is about 1.11 seconds.
Kl Sambuca Black V Gallantree holds the fastest consistent run by any Great Dane: 29.73 mph at the Mount Pleasant Michigan Kennel Club in Michigan on June 11, 2023. That's 100 yards in 6.88 seconds.
AKC's results also show Dino Lewandowski-Zais at 35.33 mph, but that dog's next-best run is 27.98 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 Great Dane is Kamari, with a best of 27.75 mph over 40 logged runs.
Not really, but more are running. In 2017, 30 Great Danes ran Fast CAT, typically at 22.3 mph. In 2025 it was 220 dogs at 22.2 mph.
Florida has the most Great Dane runs, 1,128 of them, followed by California, Virginia, Maryland. The fastest Great Dane run in Florida is 30.64 mph.
Any AKC-registered Great Dane 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.