Study on the Viability of Canine Nose Pattern as a Unique Biometric Marker

SIMPLE SUMMARY: This paper shows that the canine nose pattern, which is an interlocking pattern of beads and grooves on a dog’s nose, is unique to each individual dog. For this purpose, the nose images of 60 dogs were collected at three separate times, each roughly three to four months apart. This longitudinal cohort study was designed to ensure the diversity of data, wherein dogs of diverse age, gender, and breed are well represented in the dataset. In this study, the nose patterns of these dogs were examined visually and by a biometric algorithm to determine the uniqueness of the canine nose pattern. It was found that the canine nose pattern remains invariant through the passage of time during the observation period; and that the canine nose pattern is indeed unique to each dog. Our finding confirms and enhances the claims of earlier works by others that the canine nose pattern is unique to each animal and serves as a unique biometric marker. For further study, this dataset was augmented by adding to it the nose images of 10 beagle dogs taken once every month in a ten-month period to create an enlarged dataset of 278 images of 70 dogs of 19 breeds. The study with this enlarged dataset also leads to the same conclusion. ABSTRACT: The uniqueness of the canine nose pattern was studied. A total of 180 nose images of 60 dogs of diverse age, gender, and breed were collected. The canine nose patterns in these images were examined visually and by a biometric algorithm. It was found that the canine nose pattern remains invariant regardless of when the image is taken; and that the canine nose pattern is indeed unique to each dog. The same study was also performed on an enlarged dataset of 278 nose images of 70 dogs of 19 breeds. The study of the enlarged dataset also leads to the same conclusion. The result of this paper confirms and enhances the claims of earlier works by others that the canine nose pattern is indeed unique to each animal and serves as a unique biometric marker.