A typical Irish Water Spaniel tops out around 22.0 mph in Fast CAT. The fastest one on record ran 27.20 mph. 0.7 mph slower than the typical dog (22.7 mph). Even a typical Irish Water Spaniel would beat most people in a 100-yard sprint.
Based on the best Fast CAT run of 90 Irish Water Spaniels, a typical Irish Water Spaniel tops out at 22.0 mph, and half of them run faster than 22.4 mph. That makes the Irish Water Spaniel the 104th fastest of the 226 breeds that have run Fast CAT.
Only 1 Irish Water Spaniel has ever broken 30 mph, and 14 have topped 25 mph.
Among the most popular Sporting breeds, the typical Irish Water Spaniel is the slowest of the 9. The Vizsla is the quickest of the bunch at 24.9 mph, and the English Springer Spaniel (22.2 mph) runs closest to the Irish Water Spaniel. Over Fast CAT's 100 yards, the 2.9 mph gap to the Vizsla is about 1.08 seconds.
Saracen Raiz My Mug To Freedom holds the fastest consistent run by any Irish Water Spaniel: 27.20 mph at the Oshkosh Kennel Club in Wisconsin on October 9, 2022. That's 100 yards in 7.52 seconds.
AKC's results also show Castlehill's When Stars Collide At Donnybrook at 36.20 mph, but that dog's next-best run is 22.16 mph. A jump that big is usually a timing or typing error, so we flag it rather than crown it.
A little. The typical Irish Water Spaniel ran 21.6 mph in 2019 (25 dogs) and 22.6 mph in 2022 (31 dogs). As more everyday pets join in, the average moves around.
Texas has the most Irish Water Spaniel runs, 320 of them, followed by Wisconsin, Virginia, Connecticut. The fastest Irish Water Spaniel run in Texas is 25.50 mph.
Any AKC-registered Irish Water 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.