Dog owners queue up with their dogs at an office in Xiacheng District of Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang Province on Thursday to get dog ownership certificates. The city started the campaign on Thursday to reign in dog owners' behavior, stipulating that without a permit, owners could face fines as high as 5,000 yuan ($720) per pet. Photo: IC

Forget about getting your dog paw printed or even implanting a microchip under its fur,  a Chinese company has come up with an easy-peasy way of securing your pet's ID: an app that takes a photo of your dog's nose.  

MEGVII a Beijing-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) company which has developed human facial recognition software, is now using its expertise to help identify and manage pets. 

Pet owners can register their dogs on the app by scanning their pet's nose from different angles using the camera on a smartphone. 

Like human finger prints, the nose of a canine is unique to each animal and the app is said to have an accuracy rate of 95 percent, according to reports. 

The app is not only designed to help owners find their lost dogs, but also assist city managers to better regulate dogs and identify irresponsible pet owners. 

According to a 2018 white paper on China's pet industry, there are 50.85 million pet dogs in China.