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Background Canine parvovirus 2, a linear single-stranded DNA virus belonging to the genus Parvovirus within the family Parvoviridae, is a highly contagious pathogen of domestic dogs and several wild canidae species. Early detection of canine parvovirus (CPV-2) is crucial to initiating appropriate outbreak control strategies. Recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA), a novel isothermal gene amplification technique, has been developed for the molecular detection of diverse pathogens. In this study, a real-time RPA assay was developed for the detection of CPV-2 using primers and an exo probe targeting the CPV-2 nucleocapsid protein gene. Results The real-time RPA assay was performed successfully at 38 °C, and the results were obtained within 4–12 min for 105–101 molecules of template DNA. The assay only detected CPV-2, and did not show cross-detection of other viral pathogens, demonstrating a high level of specificity. The analytical sensitivity of the real-time RPA was 101 copies/reaction of a standard DNA template, which was 10 times more sensitive than the common RPA method. The clinical sensitivity of the real-time RPA assay matched 100% (n = 91) to the real-time PCR results. Conclusion The real-time RPA assay is a simple, rapid, reliable and affordable method that can potentially be applied for the detection of CPV-2 in the research laboratory and point-of-care diagnosis. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12917-017-1232-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.