The dog economyalso: dog-care economy
The dog majority of U.S. pet spend — roughly $80–100B a year. The thesis figure: the slice the case is built on.
Asset class
A category capital recognizes, prices, indexes, and owns at scale. The dog economy is not yet one; the library’s job is to make it legible enough to become one.
Recognition
The moment the market notices an economy it already is large — the catalyst, not the cause. The weight was always there.
The recognition staircase
The repeatable seven-step arc by which an overlooked economy becomes investable, derived from self-storage (see
Anatomy of an Asset Class).
Legibility instrument
A reference work created to make a fragmented sector measurable and to name it an asset class — the Self-Storage Almanac (1992) for storage; this library for the dog economy.
The railalso: capital rail
The dedicated financing infrastructure — credit, fixed-income, securitization — that a recognized economy normally attracts. The dog economy’s is missing; that gap is the open question.
Humanization
The cultural shift treating dogs as family, which turns dog spend into a recurring, non-discretionary household obligation.
SizePillar 1
The dog-care economy at ~$80–100B/yr, inside an APPA pet industry of ~$165B (2026 proj).
PeersPillar 2
The $100B company the dog keeps: U.S. waste & recycling (~$104.6B) and U.S. oncology medicines (~$99B).
ImpactPillar 3
The footprint beyond retail: ~$302.6B total contribution, 2.75M jobs, $21.6B tax (APPA / MSU).
LongevityPillar 4
The longest continuous demand history of any asset class — 10,000+ years, and 96 years of unbroken federal data. Uncopyable.
ValuePillar 5
The recognition-to-asset-class arc: the path by which durable, recognized economies attract institutional capital.
Pet industryAPPA basis
APPA’s total U.S. pet-industry expenditure — ~$158B (2025), ~$165B (2026 projected). The whole pet industry, not the dog slice.
Pet PCEBEA basis
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis personal-consumption series for pets — $188.8B (2024), unbroken since 1929. Broader in scope and method than the APPA figure, and never spliced with it.
The $100B line
The magnitude threshold at which the dog-care economy sits beside waste and oncology — the peers benchmark.
NAICS 812910
The U.S. industry code for pet care (except veterinary) services, including boarding and kennels — the fragmented operating base of Step 1.
Catalog EntryArchive unit
A single curated reference: source · publisher · date — finding — synthesis — pillar(s) — link. Index, attribute, synthesize, link — never reproduce.
Evidence NoteResearch unit
An atomic, sourced fact: claim · origin · defensible phrasing · caveat · use. The proven brick.
Synthesis
The library’s one-line interpretation of a third-party finding. The finding is theirs; the synthesis is ours.
Methodology — how the shelves are built
Index, don’t reproduce. Findings are restated in our own words and linked to their originals; we do not republish others’ copyrighted work. Only genuinely public-domain or historical material is quoted at length.
Attribution is the authority. Every figure is cited by name; no third-party logos are reproduced; a citation is not an endorsement. The posture is the whole point — we didn’t say it; history did.
Verify before shelving. Every figure traces to a named primary source and passes a verification pass before publication. That pass has already corrected the record once — Morgan Stanley to ~$261B, oncology scoped to the U.S., and a non-dollar peer removed.
One number, one place. The dog-care ~$80–100B figure carries the thesis; APPA’s ~$165B describes the whole pet industry; the BEA $188.8B series is reserved for the time-series exhibits — and the three are never spliced.
Loud on the mission, silent on the method. The library reveals the who and the how-much, never the how-we. It is informational and educational only — nothing here is an offer, a solicitation, or investment advice.
On figures. Definitions reflect the sourced record in
The Catalog. Entity, jurisdictional, and exemption-specific legends to be finalized by securities counsel prior to external distribution.