JAKARTA - Losing a dog often scares the owner. But now a new app has emerged that can make it easier to identify and reunite a dog with its owner, if the dog is lost.
An app called Smart Snout is believed to be able to track missing dogs by treating their noses like fingerprints.
Smart Snout is the brainchild of Bradley Watson, 44, who came up with the idea after watching a police show on TV.
He saw officers using fingerprint technology to catch criminals and realized that the same idea could be applied to dogs.
It is thought that each dog's nose has a pattern that, when combined with the shape of the nostrils, is distinctive enough to identify it.
Smart Snout advocates claim the app will go beyond microchipping, which is currently a legal requirement in the UK.
The app is free to download but costs £4.99 per year if one wishes to register their dog details.
Paying customers are asked to enter some basic information such as name, breed and color, as well as upload a picture of the dog's nose.
Bradley claims once the information comes in, if the dog is lost or stolen and then recovered, the finder simply scans the muzzle.
At this point, the owner and finder will be informed of the dog's identity and can reunite to bring the dog home safely.
Smart Snout only launched eight weeks ago but already has over 2,000 subscribers and with even more people downloading it.
The company is also trying to get police forces across the country to support it in an effort to better deter criminals.
“We're doing really well - we just signed up to go to Dragon's Den!” said Bradley, as quoted by the Dailymail. “The reviews are absolutely amazing. It is - in theory, at the moment - an unbeatable system".
"I've watched the growth of dog theft over the years, and I've witnessed it firsthand from customers," he said.
Seeing the sadness of dog owners who lost their pets, Bradley said he was sad. He also watched a police program on TV looking for suspects by scanning his fingerprints. Finally the idea came.
'It brought up all their details in the system, and I thought, 'now why can't we do this with dogs?” Bradley said. .
“From life to death, the dog's biometrics on his nose didn't change – that's where the idea came from,” said Bradley, who later contacted several investors and began working with the application team in London. Their work turned out to be extraordinary, because the Smart Snout application, was able to identify dogs precisely.
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