It has the deep folds and sand-coloured skin of a shar pei, a popular Chinese dog breed.

And from an angle, you could almost look into its sad puppy eyes.

It may look like the animal has ended up on your plate, but don't fret, it is just an extremely lifelike dog-shaped ice cream served in a restaurant in Taiwan.

Hordes of customers have showed up at J. C. Co Art Kitchen in the southern city of Kaohsiung after it began the pooch-inspired gelato creations about a month ago.

Employees take about five hours to make each ice cream, which comes in three dog breeds with different flavours.

The labrador pup is earl grey-flavoured, the pug is chocolate and shar pei tastes like peanut. Each costs between NT$110 (S$4.90) and NT$188.

To make the pups, they first fill special moulds with a unique mixture that freezes and creates a hairy-looking texture.

Each ice cream pup is refrigerated at -22 deg C before staff apply the finishing touches and serve them to customers.

"I feel sorry for him, because he has been made to look very lifelike," a customer told Reuters. "It is as if a dog is lying here and I feel like cutting into him will hurt him."

Thanks to social media, the restaurant is struggling to keep up with demand as they can only make a 100 per day, according to Reuters.