Phelan has just won the American Kennel Club’s inaugural Fastest Dog USA competition.
The wiry mixed breed, whose name derives from the Irish word for “wolf,” completed a 100-yard dash in 6.346 seconds—or 32.3 miles per hour—beating out 130 other dogs that ran in the finals of the AKC Fast CAT Invitational—short for coursing ability trial—held December 11 at the Orlando Convention Center.
Owners Krista Shreet and Ted Koch of Crownsville, Maryland, adopted Phelan—an oatmeal-hued mix of greyhound, borzoi, and Scottish deerhound—when she was a year old.
“We took her in, and she’s stolen our hearts,” Koch says.
And now she’s the fastest dog in America.Two preliminary trials held this year determined the speediest dogs from each of the 129 participating breeds, from dachshunds to Doberman pinschers.
These top dogs traveled to Orlando for the finals, which were divided into two categories: Fastest Dog USA, for overall quickest canine, and Speed of the Breed, which recognizes the fastest dog of its breed. That title went to a gray miniature poodle, Elliot, and his owner Deborah Burnett of Gray Court, South Carolina.