A typical Yorkshire Terrier tops out around 15.5 mph in Fast CAT. The fastest one on record ran 22.96 mph. 7.2 mph slower than the typical dog (22.7 mph). Even a typical Yorkshire Terrier would beat most people in a 100-yard sprint.
Yorkie: same breed, same answer. Based on the best Fast CAT run of 102 Yorkshire Terriers, a typical Yorkshire Terrier tops out at 15.5 mph, and half of them run faster than 15.7 mph. That makes the Yorkshire Terrier the 212th fastest of the 226 breeds that have run Fast CAT.
1 Yorkshire Terrier has topped 25 mph, but none has reached 30 yet.
Among the most popular Toy breeds, the typical Yorkshire Terrier is the slowest of the 9. The Italian Greyhound is the quickest of the bunch at 23.5 mph, and the Pomeranian (15.6 mph) runs closest to the Yorkshire Terrier. Over Fast CAT's 100 yards, the 8.0 mph gap to the Italian Greyhound is about 4.49 seconds.
Sassy Britches holds the fastest consistent run by any Yorkshire Terrier: 22.96 mph at the Blue Ridge Dog Training Club in Virginia on March 27, 2024. That's 100 yards in 8.91 seconds.
AKC's results also show Paisley Grace LeBlanc at 25.83 mph, but that dog's next-best run is 14.47 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 Yorkshire Terrier is Minnie, with a best of 19.19 mph over 16 logged runs.
Not really, but more are running. In 2022, 28 Yorkshire Terriers ran Fast CAT, typically at 15.3 mph. In 2025 it was 39 dogs at 15.8 mph.
Tennessee has the most Yorkshire Terrier runs, 292 of them, followed by Virginia, Ohio, Maryland. The fastest Yorkshire Terrier run in Tennessee is 21.15 mph.
Short legs don't stop anyone from having a blast. Any AKC-registered Yorkshire 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.