The time-resolved kinetics of substrate oxidation and cosubstrate H2O2 reduction by dehaloperoxidase-hemoglobin (DHP) on a seconds-to-minutes time scale was analyzed for peroxidase substrates 2,4,6-tribromophenol (2,4,6-TBP), 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (2,4,6-TCP), and ABTS. Substrates 2,4,6-TBP and 2,4,6-TCP show substrate inhibition at high concentration due to the internal binding at the distal pocket of DHP, whereas ABTS does not show substrate inhibition at any concentration. The data are consistent with an external binding site for the substrates with an internal substrate inhibitor binding site for 2,4,6-TBP and 2,4,6-TCP. We have also compared the kinetic behavior of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) in terms of kcat, Km(AH2) and Km(H2O2) using the same kinetic scheme. Unlike DHP, HRP does not exhibit any measurable substrate inhibition, consistent with substrate binding at the edge of heme near the protein surface at all substrate concentrations. The binding of substrates and their interactions with the heme iron were further compared between DHP and HRP using a competitive fluoride binding experiment, which provides a method for quantitative measurement of internal association constants associated with substrate inhibition. These experiments show the regulatory role of an internal substrate binding site in DHP from both a kinetic and competitive ligand binding perspective. The interaction of DHP with substrates as a result of internal binding actually stabilizes that protein and permits DHP to function under conditions that denature HRP. As a consequence, DHP is a tortoise, a slow but steady enzyme that wins the evolutionary race against the HRP-type of peroxidase, which is a hare, initially rapid, but flawed for this application because of the protein denaturation under the conditions of the experiment.