Our Best Friends: How Dogs Alter Indoor Air Quality
Shen Yang, Nijing Wang, Tatjana Arnoldi-Meadows, Gabriel Bekö, Meixia Zhang, Marouane Merizak, Pawel Wargocki, Jonathan Williams, Martin Täubel, Dusan Licina
TL;DR
Dogs significantly affect indoor air quality by emitting pollutants like CO2, bacteria, and VOCs, with bigger dogs having a stronger impact.
Contribution
This study quantifies and compares pollutant emissions from small and big dogs, revealing their role in indoor air chemistry and microbial transport.
Findings
Big dogs emit higher levels of CO2, NH3, fungi, and bacteria compared to small dogs.
Dogs contribute to the formation of nanocluster aerosols and ozonized VOCs, likely from human skin oils transferred to their fur.
Big dogs emit more coarse particles and microbes than humans but fewer medium-sized particles.
Abstract
Dogs are dynamic contributors to the indoor environment, yet their impact on air quality remains largely unexplored, warranting a comprehensive assessment of their pollutant emissions. This study characterized chemical, particulate, and microbial emissions from small and big dogs. Big dogs emitted CO2, NH3, fungi, and bacteria at considerably higher rates than small dogs, whereas their emissions of 1–10 μm particles were similar. With ozone present, all dogs contributed to the formation of nanocluster aerosols (1–3 nm) and ozonized volatile organic compound (VOC) products, likely from human skin oil transfer through petting. With ozone present, nanocluster aerosols (1–3 nm) were observed during dog experiments, likely reflecting ozone reactions with human-derived skin lipids transferred onto dog fur. Relative to a seated adult, big dogs emitted less ozonized products, comparable CO2 and…
Genes, proteins, chemicals, diseases, species, mutations and cell lines named across the full text — each resolved to its canonical identifier and authoritative record.
Click any figure to enlarge with its caption.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
Taxonomy
TopicsIndoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure · Air Quality and Health Impacts · Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols