A typical Papillon tops out around 17.7 mph in Fast CAT. The fastest one on record ran 24.53 mph. 5.0 mph slower than the typical dog (22.7 mph). Even a typical Papillon would beat most people in a 100-yard sprint.
Based on the best Fast CAT run of 621 Papillons, a typical Papillon tops out at 17.7 mph, and half of them run faster than 18.1 mph. That makes the Papillon the 188th fastest of the 226 breeds that have run Fast CAT.
7 Papillons have topped 25 mph, but none has reached 30 yet.
Among the most popular Toy breeds, the typical Papillon is faster than 4 of 8. The Italian Greyhound is the quickest of the bunch at 23.5 mph, and the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (18.2 mph) runs closest to the Papillon. Over Fast CAT's 100 yards, the 5.8 mph gap to the Italian Greyhound is about 2.83 seconds.
Loteki A Moment Like This holds the fastest consistent run by any Papillon: 24.53 mph at the German Shepherd Dog Club of Greater Washington in Maryland on April 13, 2024. That's 100 yards in 8.34 seconds.
AKC's results also show Wingssong Get Smart at 28.70 mph, but that dog's next-best run is 17.97 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 Papillon is Marilyn, with a best of 24.73 mph over 65 logged runs.
A little. The typical Papillon ran 16.5 mph in 2018 (32 dogs) and 17.9 mph in 2025 (229 dogs). As more everyday pets join in, the average moves around.
Florida has the most Papillon runs, 1,293 of them, followed by Ohio, California, Pennsylvania. The fastest Papillon run in Florida is 23.95 mph.
Short legs don't stop anyone from having a blast. Any AKC-registered Papillon over 12 months old can enter, small dogs earn twice the points per mph toward their titles, and the crowd always cheers loudest for the little ones. Have someone your dog will run to waiting past the finish line.
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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.