# Environmental Pawprint of Dogs as a Contributor to Climate Change

## TL;DR

Dogs contribute to climate change through waste and packaging, and their collective environmental impact is comparable to small livestock farms.

## Contribution

This paper highlights dogs as a significant yet overlooked source of environmental emissions and advocates for including them in emission reporting systems.

## Key findings

- Dog waste and care-related activities contribute to nitrogen, phosphorus, and plastic pollution.
- Owner choices like diet and waste management significantly affect a dog's environmental pawprint.
- Including dogs in emission inventories could improve urban sustainability planning.

## Abstract

Dogs are common human companions, but their environmental impact is rarely assessed. While the emissions and waste of farm animals have been extensively studied, dogs are usually regarded as individual pets rather than as a large population that collectively influences the environment. Dog feces and urine release nitrogen, phosphorus, and organic matter into soil and water, while daily care generates plastic waste from food packaging, toys, and waste bags. In urban areas with high dog densities, these emissions can reach levels comparable to those from small-scale livestock farms. Owners’ decisions—such as diet composition, choice of food packaging, and methods of waste collection—play a key role in reducing this environmental footprint. Providing nutritionally balanced diets, using sustainable packaging, and implementing safe waste treatment methods such as composting can help mitigate emissions. Furthermore, raising public awareness through owner education and local policies could lead to meaningful environmental improvements. More comprehensive research on the environmental pawprint of dogs, along with harmonized legal frameworks that include dogs in national and international emission inventories, is essential to obtain more accurate estimates and to develop effective mitigation strategies.

The environmental impact of companion animals has received little scientific attention compared to that of livestock, even though the global dog population is rapidly increasing, particularly in urban areas. This review addresses the overlooked contribution of dogs to environmental emissions, focusing on feces, urine, packaging waste, and other care-related by-products. The current knowledge from livestock research provides useful analogies for understanding nutrient excretion and gaseous emissions from dog feces, and data on nitrogen and phosphorus inputs highlight their potential to pollute soil and water. We also examine the role of plastic waste from food packaging, waste bags, and accessories, which can degrade into microplastics, and discuss recent developments in biodegradable materials. Evidence shows that owner choices—such as diet composition, protein sources, and product selection—directly affect the environmental pawprint of dogs. Mitigation strategies include optimizing diets to reduce nutrient excretion, applying feed additives developed for livestock, and improving waste management through composting or the use of emission-reducing amendments. In conclusion, dogs should no longer be viewed merely as individual household companions but as a population with a measurable environmental pawprint. Including dogs in emission reporting systems would provide a more accurate basis for mitigation policies and sustainable urban planning.