A typical Scottish Terrier tops out around 15.0 mph in Fast CAT. The fastest one on record ran 22.43 mph. 7.7 mph slower than the typical dog (22.7 mph).
Based on the best Fast CAT run of 208 Scottish Terriers, a typical Scottish Terrier tops out at 15.0 mph, and half of them run faster than 14.8 mph. That makes the Scottish Terrier the 216th fastest of the 226 breeds that have run Fast CAT.
2 Scottish Terriers have topped 25 mph, but none has reached 30 yet.
Among the most popular Terrier breeds, the typical Scottish Terrier is the slowest of the 9. The American Staffordshire Terrier is the quickest of the bunch at 24.0 mph, and the West Highland White Terrier (16.1 mph) runs closest to the Scottish Terrier. Over Fast CAT's 100 yards, the 9.1 mph gap to the American Staffordshire Terrier is about 5.16 seconds.
Fireheart's Tart N' Sassy holds the fastest consistent run by any Scottish Terrier: 22.43 mph at the Irish Wolfhound Association of the Garden State in New Jersey on September 19, 2020. That's 100 yards in 9.12 seconds.
AKC's results also show Vintage Acres Digby Macnugget at 27.37 mph, but that dog's next-best run is 18.71 mph. A jump that big is usually a timing or typing error, so we flag it rather than crown it.
Not really, but more are running. In 2019, 31 Scottish Terriers ran Fast CAT, typically at 14.3 mph. In 2025 it was 62 dogs at 14.2 mph.
Ohio has the most Scottish Terrier runs, 243 of them, followed by Georgia, Wisconsin, Tennessee. The fastest Scottish Terrier run in Ohio is 21.30 mph.
Short legs don't stop anyone from having a blast. Any AKC-registered Scottish Terrier 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.