How did Fast CAT get its start? Does it go all the way back to when the dog’s wolf ancestors chased down their first rabbit, or when the Pharaohs unleashed their hounds in pursuit of gazelle? Could Borzoi breeder Lyle Gillette‘s introduction of the sport of Lure Coursing in the early 1970s been the catalyst? Or was it just when dog people noticed that even non-sighthounds enjoyed the sport of the chase?
The real answer is that all of these moments played a part in the eventual development of AKC’s Fast CAT. But the sport’s modern roots were in 2010, when Doug Ljungren, AKC Executive Vice President for Sports & Events, and Bob Mason, AKC Lure Coursing field representative, were attending a sighthound Lure Coursing trial.
Sighthounds are the subset of Hound breeds whose purpose is to pursue swift quarry by sight, overtaking them by speed. Lure Coursing, a competitive sport in which hounds chase a lure over a zigzag pattern around a field, was traditionally open only to sighthounds. The hounds run in braces or trios, and are judged on speed, agility, endurance, enthusiasm, follow, and overall performance. So how did we get from Lure Coursing to Fast CAT?
Unleash the Hounds—and Non-Hounds!
When the official trial was over, the club (like many) allowed practice runs. And, like most clubs, they opened practice runs to any breed. Ljungren and Mason were surprised at the number of non-sighthounds that had waited all day for their chance to run, and how excited they (and their owners) were to have their turn at the lure.
Ljungren thought these dogs should also get a chance to run, and to run for ribbons and titles. He proposed a modified pass-fail coursing trial that would have a shorter, simpler, and standardized course plan, which dogs would run alone. The dog’s performance would not be scored, but instead would be on a pass-fail basis. Basically a dog would pass if it ran the whole course without stopping, and fail if it didn’t. He called it the Coursing Ability Test (CAT). For safety, small dogs and brachycephalic (flat-faced) dogs would run a 300-yard course instead of the usual 600-yard course, but otherwise the same rules applied to every dog.
The Coursing Ability Test program began in 2011, and it was an instant hit. Owners who had never attended an AKC event became hooked once they saw how excited their dog was to chase the lure. Soon people were driving hundreds of miles every weekend so their dog could run around a field for 30 seconds.
But CAT events had some practical shortcomings: They required a big fenced field, and it took a long time to run each dog. Sometimes dogs would quit halfway around, and their owner would have to run to the other side of the field and catch them. Sometimes they didn’t want to be caught, and the entire event would come to a halt.
But mostly, dog owners wanted to compare their dogs. They didn’t just want a pass-fail; they wanted a score. But how do you score a Pekingese against a Great Dane? Using the lure-coursing parameters just doesn’t work when you’re comparing breeds not necessarily meant to course.
The Need for Speed
So, Ljungren had an idea. He’d run track in high school, and realized that no other running sports were scored on anything but one measurement: time. He also realized if there’s one thing dog owners like to compare—and brag about—it’s how fast their dog is. What if they had a way to objectively decide who earned those bragging rights? They could shorten the course, so every dog could run it, and straighten it, so they could time it.
Don Adams, then a member of the AKC Coursing Committee and AKC Delegate for an all-breed club, recognized the advantages immediately. “Most all-breed clubs didn’t have the room to run a CAT with their shows, but a Fast CAT could fit in almost any club’s show grounds,” he says. “[Running a] CAT takes time; you can run about 15 dogs per hour in a CAT. We calculated we could run more than 20 dogs in an hour in a Fast CAT. Plus, Fast CAT wouldn’t need a judge.” Adams observes, “From a financial view point, it could be a real boon to some small struggling clubs. So yeah, I voted yes!” The Fast CAT program became a reality in April 2016.
L-R: AKC Executive Vice President of Sports & Events Doug Ljungren, Joan Bennett, Field Representative Joe Shoemaker
Adams was involved in running one of the very first Fast CATs. “We took a lot of our design from the Large Gazehound Racing Association (LGRA). For example, we used their run-out length,” he recalls. LGRA holds straight racing competitions for all the larger sighthounds. “Run-out” refers to the distance available to slow down and stop at the end of the race. But unlike LGRA, which used a 200-yard course, Fast CAT is a 100-yard dash. The Fast CAT start is also different.
“Doug originally envisioned a standing start,” recalls Adams. “Again, he was modeling it after his own track days. But then we decided it would be more fair to let the dogs start from up to 10 feet behind the line if their handlers preferred, so they’re already in stride when they cross the start line.”
“We also let clubs have the option of using stop watches at first,” Adams says, “Because we wanted it accessible to as many clubs as possible, and electronic timers weren’t in most clubs’ budgets. We had no idea how fast the sport would take off. The hand timers weren’t accurate enough, so we switched to electronic timers as soon as we could, finally making them mandatory in 2021.” Adams adds, “When you have a sport that is down to 1/100th of a second, you just can’t do it by hand.”
“Another question was how we could make it fair for every breed,” Adams remembers. “Doug thought a dog that was really trying to run as fast as it could should be able to earn a title in five to six runs. But obviously a Great Dane is faster than a Chihuahua. So while it wasn’t perfect, the solution was to give different heights different handicaps, so a 10-inch dog could finish a title in five trials, the same as a 24-inch dog.”
Breed and Speed
Adams says he still sees room for improvement in Fast CAT. “Now that we know what the range of typical speed is for just about every breed, I’d like to see us change that handicap system to be on a breed-by-breed basis. That way a Basset Hound would not be in the same handicap group as a Boston Terrier just because they’re the same height.”
While points toward Fast CAT titles are based on a dog’s speed in miles-per-hour multiplied by their size handicap, a dog’s absolute speed is the focus of most owners. Being ranked in the Top 20 fastest dogs for each breed is a significant motivator for many owners, and to try to earn an invitation to the annual Fast CAT Invitational. The 2023 Invitational hosted more than 400 top dogs. In 2018, the Top 20 was modified to display an average of a dog’s three fastest runs to ensure that one atypical run didn’t unduly affect dogs’ rankings.
Even Fast CAT’s creators didn’t imagine that Fast CAT would take off like it has. “While we knew Fast CAT would be popular, there is no precedent for the growth that occurred,” says Ljungren. “New clubs are still applying to hold Fast CAT events, which makes the sport more easily accessible to dog owners.”
Ljungren reports that there were 6,125 entries in Fast CAT when it started in 2016. Today, Fast CAT has grown to become AKC’s third most popular sport, with 253,000 entries in 2023.
“The sport has a lot going for it,” Ljungren explains. “Almost all dogs love it; it’s largely instinctive. It’s a very social sport for the owners; it doesn’t take up much of a person’s day.” Further, he says, “It promotes fitness for the dog. Owners can take pride in their dog’s performance, which is quantified and immediately available, and owners are primarily competing against their previous best.”
Fast CAT attracts families out for a few hours of weekend fun as well as competitors touring the country in search of titles and records. It’s a sport that allows participants to invest as much, or as little, time and effort as they want, with one caveat: There’s something addicting about seeing your dog charge down that track, happiness on their face, and maybe they’re even imagining themselves as that ancestral wolf cousin chasing after dinner. And then you leash them up in the catch pen and they just can’t wait to go and chase the “bunny” again!
When you collect your dog’s qualifying ribbon and check to see how fast they ran, you can’t help but think: “Next run they’ll be even faster!” It’s fun for them, and it’s fun for you—exactly what makes getting involved in dog sports so rewarding.