As it turns out, the nose print of a dog is as unique and individual as the human fingerprint.
A start-up company in South Korea has developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based app that scans a dog’s nose print and puts it in a crowdsourced database that anyone can access to identify a lost dog’s owner.
It has become apparent that a dog’s nose print is as unique as our own human fingerprints.
This start-up app could be a real game changer for lost pets because while no one has a microchip scanner lying around the house, almost everyone has a smartphone.
Dogs have completely unique nose prints – one South Korean start-up is making use of it
Pet owners who have ever lost track of their cat or dog, even just for a short time, will know the fear of thinking you might never see them again.
Collar tags with names and phone numbers were the original way of identifying potentially lost pets and then came microchips.
However, dog tags and collars can be lost, and to identify pets using their microchips, you have to bring them to the vet.
The team at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, has honed their AI to a 99% accuracy and has now released the technology free through the Petnow app on marketplaces in South Korea, the United States, and Spain.
How to use the app – identifying lost pets
Once you have downloaded the app, pet owners can register their dog’s nose print by taking a picture of it with their smartphone.
For cat owners, the algorithm can identify cats by their whole face rather than just the nose. Once the picture is taken, it is stored in the Petnow database.
As such, anyone who comes across a lost pet can take a picture of its nose or face, download the app, and see if they can find a match.
The app will then instantly provide contact details for the lost animal’s owner. For anyone with a fidgety pet who can’t sit still for a photo, worry not! The app uses three kinds of AI to identify the nose print even when the face and nose are moving around.
Petnow – an innovative app for the future
Petnow is the first of its kind in identifying lost cats and dogs using biometrics. As their website puts it, “Petnow’s AI-driven biometric pet ID offers not only a means to identify beloved pets but also pet-oriented values hoping for a better world for your forever family”.
A crowdsourced database was the foundation for the idea of the Petnow app. As such, the team needs as many people as possible, dog owners, shelters, vet offices, and pet businesses, to get the word out there. Would you like to see the Petnow app accessible where you live?
We can safely say that this sounds like an incredible piece of kit that will reassure any pet owner once their pet’s information is logged into the database. If this article hasn’t given you enough doggy cuteness, check out our article on adorable dog pictures to brighten your day.