Dog speed

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axtera

I had a dog chase me this morning. It was suprisingly fast. How fast can a collie/lab mix run? I talked about this on another thread this morning, but no answers. Is there a list of dog speeds per breed somewhere?

I've never seen a list anywhere but I play flyball with my dogs and there are dogs that can easily run a 102 foot course in under 4 seconds (some around 3.5 secs) - including coming to a full stop and turning around (51 feet down, 51 feet back). That's about 25 ft/sec including the turn so the actual top speed would be much higher.

Stujoe

I have not seen a table on how fast they run but your best hope is that they are far enough away that you can keep ahead of them until you run out of the area they are protecting. Like football, closing speed and angle are going to be important. ;)

james herbst

31kmh.
That's how fast I was going at the top of the last long hill on my 30km morning route when I finally shook that ******* Greek shepherd's dog off my *****. I usually spin that hill at 18-19kmh and I was pooped and pissed enough to start looking for some pepper spray.

vtjim

My dog (45 pound border collie / lab type shelter mutt) has pulled me on my bike at 20MPH. That's with a load. Her top speed is obviously going to be faster.

Hobartlemagne

Ive always thought that almost any dog can catch up to the average cyclist if it wants to.

making

I am really suprised they are that fast. Good thing to keep in mind. Thanks.

Stujoe

I read that greyhounds and whippets can reach near 40mph. I would not be surprised if other decent sized dogs that are healthy and in shape could do 30mph. Asphalt, etc might slow them down a bit? And, of course, depending upon the dog, they might be content to just pace you for the fun of it...fun for them, not necessarily you ;)...instead of actually going all out to run you down.

noisebeam

I have no idea, but fast enough to catch most cyclists.

One stat that always amazes me:
The world's (at the time, record has since been broken) fastest running human covered 200m at an average speed of 23.3mph from a 'standing' start, while reaching a peak speed of 26.8mph

Al

JRA

According to:

Speeds of animals (http://mistupid.com/animals/speeds.htm)

A Greyhound can run 39.35 mph, a whippet 35.5 mph.

Some wild canines can run faster: Cape hunting dog (45 mph), coyote (43 mph), gray fox (42 mph), hyena (40 mph).

A domestic rabbit can run 35 mph, a domestic cat 30 mph.

A garden snail can go 0.03 mph, a Peregrine falcon 217 mph.

why2not

A more "pedestrian dog" @25-30mph is pretty hard to outrun if they're not directly behind you.

vtjim

A domestic rabbit can run 35 mph, a domestic cat 30 mph.
To the chagrin of cats everywhere. :p

leob1

Not as fast as me, so far!

edzo

dogs can run fast, but they burn out fast

if you can cover 1 mile you will outride any dog, it's
the initial speed of the dog you need to worry about.

dogs can never match the endurance of a human, so if you
are fit and can hammer long enough, you are all set. but you
gotta hammer to beat the sprint

JRA

A more "pedestrian dog" @25-30mph is pretty hard to outrun if they're not directly behind you.Yea. I suspect that the top speed of most dogs is somewhere in the 25-30mph range. A dog that can run 35 mph is exceptional.

According to Canada's Guide to Dogs (http://www.canadasguidetodogs.com/greyhound.htm), a greyhound can reach a speed of 45 miles per hour, and can average more than 30 miles per hour for distances up to a mile. Greyhounds can accelerate faster than any other land animal with the exception of the cheetah.

edzo

Yea. I suspect that the top speed of most dogs is somewhere in the 25-30mph range. A dog that can run 35 mph is exceptional.

According to Canada's Guide to Dogs (http://www.canadasguidetodogs.com/greyhound.htm), a greyhound can reach a speed of 45 miles per hour, and can average more than 30 miles per hour for distances up to a mile. Greyhounds can accelerate faster than any other land animal with the exception of the cheetah.

what is scary is a big ol bear can run >30mph. imagine a dog running full tilt, then a bear weighing 200-400lbs. bears can MOVE when motivated

CommuterRun

None are as fast as a well aimed stream of pepper spray.

Roody

None are as fast as a well aimed stream of pepper spray.

Maybe, but they'll cover a lot of ground before they know the spray hit 'em.

Helmet Head

Another advantage of group riding... you don't have to be faster than the dog, just faster than the slowest one in your group... ;)

Sixty Fiver

I have never met a dog I couldn't outrun then again... greyhounds aren's common where I ride.

I have a Miniature Pinscher and a Shih Tzu... I can outrun the Shih Tzu on foot but the Min Pin is a little black and tan rocket.

prschaa

One of my runs I've named "Dog Chase Lane" Golden Retriever has a top end of 22.2, little further down the road, Australian Shepard, 24.4. No endurance for land give up pretty quickly, but it's fun to play with them. I worry that a car will smack 'em someday.. Crappy careless owners.

scooterbeans

My dog (45 pound border collie / lab type shelter mutt) has pulled me on my bike at 20MPH. That's with a load. Her top speed is obviously going to be faster.

Not necessarily. Was she in her big ring?

waldowales

They seem to be somewhat slower after being tapped on the snout with a frame pump. Seems to speed up the owners, though. :(

mtnbk3000

joe99

I recall many years ago my border collie easily keeping pace with me at 50 km/h (about 31mph) across a farm paddock. I was on a trail bike and that was fast as I had the courage to go. I do not recall the distance involved but I doubt if she would have been able to keep it up for more than a few hundred metres.

I am sure I would not have been able to get away from her on a bicycle, even with good road conditions.

The other thing to consider is that a dog can accelerate very rapidly, so that unless you spot a hostile dog some distance away, outrunning it is not going to be easy.

Roody

Dogs have more endurance than you might think. One time a friendly brown dog followed me about three miles on a walk in the country. I couldn't get that dog to go back home again. So I got in the car, and, like I planned, the dog ran alongside the car. He kept up with me for the whole 3 miles to his house, even though I drove between 20 and 25 mph. Then I gunned the accelerator, and the dog sprinted after me for a couple hundred yards before he finally gave up and ran home.

We have some humans who are great athletes, but there are dogs, cats and other animals who are even better. :)

tdister

My english lab could regularly hit over 30 mph running next to me on my parent's 4 wheeler. There aren't many stretches on their land long enough to maintain that speed for long, but she was more than happy to run behind it for a good while if not too hot outside. Broke her hip since those days though...

jcm

Dogs have incredible stamina, and can easily outrun a human on a bike. We will beg for oxygen long before a beagle will - or a lab, or a collie, or setter. Fact is, only a few animals have the ability to sprint long enough to take prey. Humans are almost completely devoid of the ability to outrun a predator - even on a bike. Our running muscles and nervous system are too large and slow.

Nature favors the conservative approach - ambush. It leaves enough strength to take down the prey and then defend it. We use it, and so do dogs. The difference is that a dog can lope along for literally hours on end.. How many cyclists can maintain 18-22 mph over all terrain, for even 1 hour? Ok, if you're young and very fit, and have bike that weighs 6oz, I'll give you another 30 minutes. The ability to lope at medium/high speed among dogs is the very specific tool they have for sorting out the weakness among the herd. They'll circle and stampede the prey for hours before zero-ing in on a lone oldie or a sick one.

No way will you outrun a dog that really wants to pace you or test you.

EDIT: let's be fair and assume that the dog is of sufficient size/leg length to qualify as something more than a stuffed toy...

tpelle

I used to have a dog (German Shepard mix) that chased cars. A friend of mine that used to pass my house on his way to and from work told me that I had a 42 mph dog.

hero419

I take my two dogs for regular 6 mile bike rides.
they are brother and sister 65lbs and 50 lbs
lab blood hound mix
they mantain speeds of 18 to 25
with one break to take a swim in the crick

closetbiker

remember in "American Flyers" they practiced sprinting by going by "daves" house?

No one liked him. He was nasty but everyone agreed he was the best one to train for sprinting with.

Turned out, Dave was a dog that chased them.

You had to be fast to avoid the bite.

:D

fastdogs

and remember that the speeds for greyhounds, whippets, and horses are not top speeds- they are average speeds over a certain distance track (usually 200 yds for whippets). The top sprint speed, if measured in the first turn or a third to half of the way up the track, would be much higher. Salukis can achieve nearly greyhound speeds, but maintain them for a mile or more.
When I was ignorant about cyclists and stationed at Ft. Lewis in washington, I had my whippets out on one of the training areas. A large group of road bikes came flying along one of the dirt packed roads (I leashed my dogs if I saw other signs of life, but these guys came up too fast). I thought they were out of sight of the dogs, but the dogs could just see the tops of their helmets skimming along the ground and gave chase. They caught up and galloped along with them briefly, then came back to me when they discovered there was nothing to chase. I leashed them up right away, but stupidly had no idea how dangerous it was for the cyclists (and the dogs) to have six dogs in among them all of a sudden.
vickie

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