Paws Up 4 Dogz

29/10/2025

Puppy 2 starts Monday 10th November!

Don't miss out. 💫🐾

28/10/2025

SECONDS COUNT
This post is not advocating that dogs meet every other dog, but rather about how to go about it in a safer way, if and when it does happen.

The 3 second rule for dogs meeting each other is used as a guideline to help foster positive introductions, prevent either dog from feeling overwhelmed or trapped and prevent any potential reactivity and stress.

A short 3 second introduction is enough time to provide important information to both dogs.

Enough time and information for dogs to decide – “are you a threat?”, “do I like you?”, “do I want to learn more about you?”, “do I really dislike you?”, “do I want you to go away?” etc. Both dogs may not feel the same way – one may not be happy to engage while the other may want to.

All interactions should ideally happen like this, not just initially. Just like us, dogs can have off days – things like pain, trigger stacking, lack of sleep or a host of other reasons can influence a dog’s emotional state and whether a dog wants to interact or not.

There are countless times I have witnessed meetings or introductions between dogs that have gone on just a few seconds too long and have not ended well.

This can have long lasting effects on future behaviour when meeting other dogs.

Understanding body language is critically important. If we are going to share our lives with another species, protect them, advocate for them and help them feel safe, then we need to understand and respect their language.

The examples in this post of red and green flags are just a few general ones to look out for – there are many more and these will differ depending on the individual dog, context and circumstances.

Here are some resources that provide more detailed information about body language –

The Veterinary Behaviour Centre
https://bit.ly/4hwC8k1

On Talking Terms With Dogs - Calming Signals, 2nd Edition by Turid Rugaas
https://bit.ly/4oftWqW

Make sure those first 3 seconds count – they can make all the difference.

14/10/2025

BRAIN UNDER CONSTRUCTION
The challenges of the teenage dog.

There’s a saying that most parents of teenagers can relate to - "Parents of teenagers understand why some animals eat their young!"

The changes that happen in the brain of a teenage dog are not that different to a human teenager.

The brain undergoes a period of "pruning" and "re-wiring". This process can cause some parts not to work, work sporadically or work too much.

To describe it in the simplest of terms -the prefrontal cortex of a teenage brain is at the “back of the queue” in this process. It’s still “under construction” and still developing. This area of the brain is responsible for making “logical” decisions, controlling impulses, learning, remembering, problem solving and social interaction.

Because the prefrontal cortex is being reconstructed, the brain relies more on a part called the amygdala to make choices and react.
The amygdala is involved in the “big feelings” we may see - emotional responses like fight or flight, anxiety, excitement, reactivity, impulse control and instinctive behaviour.

Being aware of the physical changes the teenage brain is going through in the process of maturing, helps us to be more understanding and accepting.

Statistics show that many dogs are surrendered or re homed during the teenage stage as their owners no longer “like” the way their dog behaves, can’t handle them or just give up on them.

Please don’t give up on your teenage dog. We need to manage our expectations and frustrations during this phase.

Understand and acknowledge what is happening in their brain. Help them through this stage with patience, consistency, love and acceptance.

02/10/2025

When you first pictured life with your dog, what did you imagine?

A robotically obedient little puppet?

Or a companion who makes you laugh, comforts you, and feels safe with you?

We’ve been conditioned to think:

…that a “good dog” is an obedient dog.
…that compliance equals love.
…that control equals security.

But a dog who hides their needs to avoid consequences isn’t thriving. They’re walking on eggshells. Suppressing who they are.

What most people actually want isn’t robotic compliance.

It’s a relationship. Trust. Safety. Joy.

You picked your dog. You brought them into your life.

But the real measure isn’t that you chose them…

It’s whether they feel safe enough to choose you back.

Obedience isn’t the goal. A real relationship is 🫶

21/09/2025

My SPAR while a public apology and working with SPCA Boksburg might seem sufficient in your eyes to quickly make this enormously horrific bad decision "go away" (together with ensuring the removal of the original video showing living sentient puppies for sale at your store), I guarantee you this is NOT sufficient for myself or many other people!

As a puppy school owner & dog trainer of many years, who helps and educates pet parents daily, this unethical decision does not just disappear.

The fact that the decision was made to sell puppies and live animals, and actually think that was okay to start with, speaks volumes about the kind of leadership and thinking at CEO and management level.

My SPAR leadership was already aware of public concerns, which means it was already known that this was NOT the right or ethical decision, as per quote below from Rob Philipson.
Yet Spar forged ahead with the sale of puppies anyway!

"We are deeply aware of public concerns regarding the sale of live animals in retail environments. For this reason, puppy sales are confined to one store only, where processes and standards can be carefully monitored and controlled."

It truly blows my mind that in today's world the decision was made to increase the bottom line of a retailer by selling live puppies and live animals like they are just another grocery item.

It is horrific and inexcusable!

To try claim "but we are fixing it" does make the initial unethical decision go away!
Or the thinking behind it.

It comes down to ETHICS and a moral compass, which Spar leadership does not display through actions like this.

Organisations and indiviuals have worked so hard to stop the sale of animals in shops as well as backyard breeding.

It is known publicly how rescue organisations are bursting at the seems and can't cope with the amount of animals they have, yet it was still a good idea for you to buy these animals from breeders and re-sell them.

And to then "fix it" by making it SPCA's issue - adding to the enormous amount of animals they already have.

This just does not cut it. This cannot just be "unseen" and fixed!

You mention education and responsible pet ownership, how can anyone take this seriously with the initial decision to sell live animals?!

"Our aim is to create an environment where customers can learn, engage, and experience the joy of responsible pet ownership," Philipson said.

I used to support my local Spar daily, and I will no longer set foot in this store or any other Spar or Spar affiliated store!

All your franchise owners are now also affected by this horrendous action of your leadership.

All that was considered in your decision was the bottom line and profits. So it is your bottom line and profits that should take the knock.

And those who were involved in making this decision need to be held accountable - what consequences are there to their actions?

What about the rest of the live animals like the fish & reptiles - where are they going?

You should at the very least be providing rescue organisations with food, blankets, supplies and financial aid AND spending time volunteering your services at SPCA and other rescue organisations - as an actual apology. Not as a once off either, but as contiunous volunteering.

And educating yourselves on what responsible pet ownership is before trying to sell this to the public.

We apologise sincerely for the distress this has caused. Thank you for your understanding as we take steps to put this right.

09/09/2025

𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒚 𝒐𝒓 𝒏𝒆𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒕:

• Greatly reduces the risk of Pyometra in females. Pyometra is an infection in the uterus. It is a serious and life threatening condition and expensive to treat.

• For both males and females; sterilization decreases the risks of several cancers your pet can develop.

• Besides for the obvious prostrate cancers – it eliminates other prostate issues too.

• Reduces overpopulation! Countless animals are found homeless, in welfares or euthanized due to unplanned breeding and unwanted litters. Finding good homes is not always the easiest task and can be time consuming. It is advisable to eradicate the possibility of having you pet reproduce by having them sterilized!

• Reduces and eliminates many unwanted behaviour problems.

These are just a few very important reasons to sterilize your pet, sterilization can help change unwanted behavior from your animals.

𝐁𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐮𝐩𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐲 & 𝐍𝐞𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥!

Did you know that our Puppy and Kitten Wellness Plans includes their spay or neuter, and much much more!
Follow the link for more important information on Citivet's Wellness Plans:
https://www.citivetbothasig.co.za/wellness-plans/
Follow the link for more important information on spaying/neutering pets:
https://pets.webmd.com/reasons-spay-neuter-pet

09/09/2025

😁 Is your puppy nibbling at your hands, ankles, or pants? If so, you’re definitely not alone.

Puppies use their mouths a lot, and biting can happen for different reasons:

1. Overexcitement
2. Frustration
3. Fatigue
4. Play behaviour
5. Seeking connection
6. Teething discomfort
7. Rehearsed behaviours (unintentional patterns built through repetition)

🐕 Puppies don’t realise that our skin and clothes aren’t for chewing. With their littermates, nibbling, jumping, and wrestling are all ways of starting play. They naturally carry those same behaviours into interactions with us when they come into our homes until they learn different responses.

Mouthing is normal puppy behaviour, but that doesn’t mean we want to encourage it. The best way to teach bite inhibition is to guide your puppy toward more appropriate outlets.

When your puppy mouths you:

Even though it’s hard sometimes because it hurts, stay calm! Avoid jerking your hand away (that can turn it into a game).

Briefly disengage, pause play by removing your attention for a few seconds, becoming neutral. Stopping interaction ends the ‘game’.

If your puppy persists is biting, calmly redirect them onto a nearby toy and reward them for holding or chewing that instead.

However..

Theres a trick with using a toy!

Avoid overly exciting play and high pitch, “naggy” voice, as this can increase overstimulation and arousal, leading to the puppy missing the toy and biting you more!

When they have the toy in their mouth gently praise with something simple like “Good job, hold it.”
A puppy can’t mouth you and hold a toy at the same time.

🎉 Environment management is just as important:

Have treat stations strategically placed around the house in areas where you struggle the most with persistent unwanted behaviour. Treats can be used to redirect to lure your puppy away to a different task which can be rewarded instead of them nibbling your feet.

Keep a few safe toys and chews available at all times.

❌ What not to do:

Don’t yell, smack, or physically punish!

This risks scaring your puppy, increasing frustration, or making them more rough in play.

✅ What to do instead:

Offer safe, puppy-appropriate chew items to help with teething, boredom, and mild stress.

- Pizzle stick
- Vension ears
- Himalayan K9 chew ( medium - large )
- Pre frozen lick mat (great for teething discomfort)
- Treats in a puzzle/ ball/ enrichment item

You are not rewarding biting! You are redirecting your overtired or overstimulated puppy to something more constructive than your clothes or skin.

Experiment with different toy textures and rotate them to keep things interesting.

Avoid toys small enough to swallow, anything sharp, and NEVER give cooked bones.

Make sure everyone in the household responds the same way so your puppy gets a clear, consistent message.

🐾 A simple guide to follow:

Don’t respond to behaviours you don’t want to unintentionally encourage.

Reward behaviours you like to reinforce the behaviours want to see more of.

If you can’t ignore an unwanted behaviour, redirect it into something constructive, then reward your puppy for making that ‘better’ choice.

25/08/2025

Yup...you can be teaching your dog to ignore you.
No one likes to be nagged.
We are just so impatient!
Give them time.
Let them actually process what you have said before you say it again.
Bite your tongue a bit before you repeat, it helps.
Count to 4 (in your head).
After you ask....take a breath....watch what happens.🏆

We slip into these bad habits and they do require recognition from us that we have actually fallen into them.
So easily done and it starts as early as those first few days at home when they're pups.

Say it once?
No.
You may need to repeat especially if there are distractions, temptations or they are struggling with focus....but even then, don't get into the habit of nagging.

You will turn yourself into background noise.

25/08/2025

Do you feel the pressure ?
Allowing interactions because others insist it will make your dog "more social"?
It isn't socialisation and it won't make them "friendlier", in fact it can be a very short hop, skip and jump into a whole new world of reactive behaviour.
We can't force interactions.

True social skills come from safe and positive experiences.
Allowing them to read other dogs is a skill they need to develop and that's something we can encourage by allowing them the comfort of watching and observing.

When we let dogs choose if and when to interact, we’re giving them control over their own comfort.
That choice.....it reduces stress, builds confidence, and makes every future interaction more likely to succeed.

Social skills can't and should never be rushed.

22/08/2025

If you don’t physically exhaust them… they just won’t stop.
Whoa there.
Let’s look at the bigger picture.... not just a quick “fix” for today.

I get it, I really do.
Running them longer..... throwing the frisbee for another 10 minutes, chucking that ball again and again, because if you don’t, they’ll pace, whine and struggle to settle.

Here’s the tough question.
Is it helping your dog… or just creating a cycle where they crave more and more?

Their stamina climbs higher.
Their demands increase.
Their adrenaline is off the charts.

Then "suddenly" the amount of exercise you need to give them is unsustainable .
There just aren’t enough hours in the day to “satisfy” them.

What's the solution?
Do less… but carefully.
Reduce that high energy exercise, while adding enrichment in its place.

Low arousal activities that tire them in a different way:

Scatter feeding
Scent walks
Enrichment games
Puzzle toys

Still not convinced?
Try it.... really try it , for a few weeks.

You’ll never look at “tiring them out” the same way again.

12/08/2025

They don’t need the whole house on day one.
In fact, too much "freedom" in your home can create challenges in those first few days.
➡️ Unfamiliar places can add more stress to an already anxious pup or dog.

They need time to adjust to their new environment.
Everything is different.....scents, sights, people, surfaces, and sounds.
Let them settle into one room before opening up the rest of the house.
Nervous or overstimulated dogs may toilet inside or even become destructive.

Chewing is natural... but you might not like what they find if they’re off exploring unsupervised rooms.

You’re adjusting to them as much as they are to you.
Limiting access to a couple of rooms really can help and it helps with that crucial early bonding.

➡️ Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
The adoption centre, breeder, or previous family often knows what your dog needs or prefers.
They want you to succeed and can help you through the early stages.

In the nicest way possible....use that support.
Reach out.
They’re there to help, not judge.

➡️ Don’t smother.
Children especially may want to show physical affection right away.
It’s tough to tell them no....but your new dog has been through a lot.
They don’t know or fully trust anyone yet.

Being hugged, kissed, or cuddled before trust has been built.....that’s too much.

They’ll let you know when they’re ready for more.