A typical Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever tops out around 23.7 mph in Fast CAT. The fastest one on record ran 28.91 mph. 1.0 mph faster than the typical dog (22.7 mph). The fastest Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers outrun Usain Bolt's top speed by 1.1 mph.
Toller: same breed, same answer. Based on the best Fast CAT run of 636 Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers, a typical Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever tops out at 23.7 mph, and half of them run faster than 24.4 mph. That makes the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever the 51st fastest of the 226 breeds that have run Fast CAT.
Only 4 Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers have ever broken 30 mph, and 256 have topped 25 mph.
Among the most popular Sporting breeds, the typical Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever is faster than 5 of 8. The Vizsla is the quickest of the bunch at 24.9 mph, and the Labrador Retriever (23.6 mph) runs closest to the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. Over Fast CAT's 100 yards, the 1.2 mph gap to the Vizsla is about 0.42 seconds.
Skylark's Soaring Grasshopper holds the fastest consistent run by any Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever: 28.91 mph at the Rocky Mountain Irish Wolfhound Association in Colorado on October 13, 2019. That's 100 yards in 7.08 seconds.
AKC's results also show Redalert's Dancing With The Stars at 38.09 mph, but that dog's next-best run is 27.46 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 Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever is William, with a best of 27.91 mph over 135 logged runs.
Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers come in more than one Fast CAT height group. 347 measured over 18 inches and averaged 23.8 mph; 289 measured 12 to 18 inches and averaged 23.5 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, 33 Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers ran Fast CAT, typically at 23.4 mph. In 2025 it was 211 dogs at 23.9 mph.
Virginia has the most Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever runs, 1,382 of them, followed by Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin. The fastest Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever run in Virginia is 27.98 mph.
Any AKC-registered Nova Scotia Duck Tolling 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.
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.