• Complete Animal Management
  • AI-Powered Assistance
  • Professional Documentation
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User Guide

Table of Contents

TruePaws — Complete User Guide

What is TruePaws?

TruePaws is a kennel management system that runs inside your WordPress website. It helps professional breeders manage their animals, track breeding and pregnancies, handle buyer contacts, generate official documents (like pedigree certificates and handover packets), and even display available puppies/kittens on your public website.

Part 1: Prerequisites (What You Need Before Installing)

1. A WordPress Website

  • You need a self-hosted WordPress site (the kind you install on your own hosting — not a free WordPress.com blog).
  • WordPress version 5.0 or newer is required.

2. Hosting Requirements

  • PHP 7.4 or newer (most modern hosts provide PHP 8.0+).
  • MySQL database (standard with all WordPress hosts).
  • The WordPress REST API must be enabled (it is by default — only disabled if someone deliberately turned it off).

3. Optional (but Recommended)

  • A Google Gemini API key if you want to use the AI-powered features (care advice, health alerts, marketing bio generation). You can get one free from Google AI Studio.
  • A Zapier or Make account if you want to send automated notifications to external services.

Part 2: Installing the Plugin

Step 1 — Upload the Plugin

  1. Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard (usually yourwebsite.com/wp-admin).
  1. In the left sidebar, go to Plugins → Add New.
  1. Click the Upload Plugin button at the top.
  1. Click Choose File and select the truepaws.zip file you received.
  1. Click Install Now and wait for it to finish.

Step 2 — Activate the Plugin

  1. After installation completes, click the Activate Plugin button.
  1. The plugin will automatically create all the database tables it needs.
  1. You will see a new TruePaws menu item appear in your WordPress sidebar.

Part 3: Initial Setup (Do This First!)

After activating, go to TruePaws → Settings in your WordPress sidebar. You will see several tabs across the top. Work through each one.

Tab 1: General Settings

Setting What It Does Example
Default Species The type of animal you primarily breed. Options: Dog, Cat, Horse, Rabbit, Guinea Pig, Ferret, Bird. Dog
Breeder Prefix A short code (max 5 characters) used when auto-naming puppies/kittens from litters. TP
Pregnancy Duration — Dogs How many days a dog pregnancy lasts. Default is 63. Only change if you know otherwise. 63
Pregnancy Duration — Cats How many days a cat pregnancy lasts. Default is 65. 65
Feeding Instructions Text that will appear on the handover documents you give to new buyers. Write what the animal eats, how often, and any special instructions. “Feed 3 times daily with Royal Canin puppy food…”
Gemini API Key Paste your Google Gemini API key here to enable AI features. Leave blank if you don’t want AI features. (your key)
Webhook URL If you use Zapier or Make for automation, paste the webhook URL here. Leave blank otherwise. (your webhook URL)
Click Save Settings when done.

Tab 2: Breeder Info

Fill in your professional details. This information appears on generated PDFs (pedigree certificates, handover packets).
Field What to Enter
Breeder Name Your full name as the breeder
Business Name Your kennel or cattery name
License Number Your breeding license number (if applicable)
Phone Your business phone number
Email Your business email address
Click Save Settings when done.

Tab 3: Breeds

This is where you manage the list of breeds available in dropdown menus throughout the plugin.
  • TruePaws comes preloaded with 20 common dog breeds and 20 common cat breeds.
  • To add a breed: Type the breed name in the text box and click Add Breed.
  • To remove a breed: Click the delete button next to any breed in the list.
> Tip: Add all the breeds you work with now. You can always add more later.

Tab 4: Communication

Fill in your mailing address and contact page URL. This is used for public-facing features and shortcodes.
Field What to Enter
Street Address Your kennel’s street address
City City
State/Province State or province
ZIP/Postal Code Postal code
Country Country
Contact / Inquiry URL The URL of your website’s contact page (used as the default link on “Contact Breeder” buttons)
Click Save Settings when done.

Tab 5: Sales Reports

This tab is read-only — it shows your sales statistics once you start recording sales. You will see:

  • Total Revenue earned
  • Total number of Sales
  • Average Sale Price
  • A monthly breakdown table
  • A Top Buyers table

Part 4: The Dashboard

When you click TruePaws in the sidebar, you land on the Dashboard. This is your home base. Here is what you will see:

Statistics Cards

Four cards at the top showing:

  • Total Animals — how many animals are in your system
  • Active Litters — pregnancies currently being tracked
  • Contacts — total buyers and waitlist entries
  • Upcoming Events — events coming soon (vaccines, whelping dates, etc.)

Quick Actions

Three buttons for the most common tasks:

  • Add Animal — go directly to the new animal form
  • Log Mating — record a new breeding
  • Add Contact — add a new buyer or waitlist entry

Getting Started Checklist

A helpful checklist that guides you through first-time setup.

Latest Events

A timeline of the most recent events across all your animals (vaccines, vet visits, weight checks, etc.).

Charts

  • Breed Distribution — a doughnut chart showing how many animals you have of each breed.
  • Sales Overview — a bar chart showing monthly revenue.

Activity Heatmap

A GitHub-style calendar heatmap showing how active your kennel is each day over the past year. Darker squares = more events logged that day.

Part 5: Adding and Managing Animals

How to Add a New Animal

  1. Go to TruePaws → Animals (or click “Add Animal” on the Dashboard).
  1. Click the Add New Animal button.
  1. Fill in the form:
Field Required? Description
Name Yes The animal’s registered/official name
Call Name No The name you actually call them at home
Registration Number No Official registration number from your breed registry
Microchip ID No The microchip number (must be unique)
Breed No Select from your breeds list
Sex Yes Male or Female
Sire (Father) No Select from existing male animals in your system
Dam (Mother) No Select from existing female animals in your system
Birth Date No Date the animal was born
Status No Active, Retired, Sold, Deceased, or Co-Owned (defaults to Active)
Color/Markings No Describe the animal’s appearance
Description No Any additional notes about the animal
Featured Image No Click to open the WordPress Media Library and select a photo
  1. Click Save Animal.
> Tip for first-time setup: Start by adding your adult breeding animals (sires and dams) first. That way, when you add younger animals or puppies, you can select their parents from the dropdown menus.

The Animal Profile Page

After saving, click on any animal’s name to see its profile page. This is the most feature-rich page in the plugin. Here is everything you can do:

View Information

  • See all the details you entered, plus a status badge (e.g., “Active” in green, “Sold” in blue).
  • The featured image displays prominently, with a fallback silhouette if no photo was uploaded.

Photo Gallery

  • Upload multiple photos by clicking “Add Photos”.
  • Drag and drop photos to reorder them.
  • Click a photo to set it as the featured image.
  • Delete photos you no longer need.

Timeline & Events

The timeline shows a chronological history of everything that has happened to this animal. To add a new event:
  1. Click the Add Event button.
  1. Choose the event type:
  • Birth — birth record
  • Vaccine — vaccination administered
  • Heat — heat cycle observed
  • Mating — breeding event
  • Whelping — gave birth
  • Weight — weight measurement
  • Vet Visit — veterinary appointment
  • Note — general note
  1. Enter the date and a title/description.
  1. For weight events, enter the weight value.
  1. Click Save.
Events appear in the timeline sorted by date, with icons indicating the type.

Pedigree Tree

  • Displays a 3-generation family tree showing parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents.
  • This only works if you have entered parent relationships for your animals.
  • Click Download Pedigree PDF to generate a printable pedigree certificate.

Weight Growth Chart

  • If you have logged weight events, a line chart appears showing the animal’s weight over time.
  • Displays current weight and total weight gained.

AI Features (requires Gemini API key)

Three AI-powered buttons appear on the profile:

  • AI Care Advice — generates personalized care recommendations based on the animal’s breed, age, and history. Results are cached for 30 days.
  • AI Marketing Bio — writes a compelling description for your website or social media listings.
  • AI Health Alerts — analyzes the event history and flags potential health concerns.

Selling an Animal

  1. On the animal’s profile, click Sell / Reserve.
  1. Select the buyer from your contacts list.
  1. Enter the sale date and price.
  1. Add any notes (optional).
  1. Click Confirm Sale.
  1. The animal’s status changes to “Sold”.
  1. You can now click Generate Handover PDF to create a professional handover document containing the animal’s info, health history, pedigree preview, care instructions, and your breeder details.

Copy Shortcode

At the bottom of the profile, you will see a shortcode like 
Animal not found.
. Click to copy it. You can paste this into any WordPress page or post to display this animal’s profile on your public website.

Part 6: Breeding & Litter Management

Logging a New Mating

  1. Go to TruePaws → Litters.
  1. Click Log New Mating.
  1. Fill in the form:
Field Required? Description
Sire (Father) Yes Select the male from your animals
Dam (Mother) Yes Select the female from your animals
Mating Date Yes The date breeding occurred
Method No Natural or Artificial Insemination (AI)
Notes No Any notes about the mating
  1. Click Save.
  1. The system automatically calculates the expected whelping date based on your pregnancy duration settings (default: 63 days for dogs, 65 for cats).

Tracking Pregnancy

On the Litters page, each active (pending) litter shows a Pregnancy Tracker card with:

  • A progress bar showing how far along the pregnancy is.
  • Trimester indicator (Early / Mid / Late).
  • Days remaining until expected whelping.
  • Upcoming milestones such as:
  • Implantation
  • Heartbeat detectable
  • Ultrasound window
  • X-ray safe period
  • Nesting behavior expected

Recording the Birth (Whelping)

When the litter is born:
  1. Go to TruePaws → Litters.
  1. Find the litter and click Whelp Litter.
  1. The Whelping Wizard opens. Follow the steps:
Step 1 — Log the Birth:

  • Enter the actual whelping date.
  • Enter the number of male puppies/kittens.
  • Enter the number of female puppies/kittens.
  • Preview the auto-generated names (e.g., “TP24AB Puppy 1”, “TP24AB Puppy 2”).
Step 2 — Confirmation:

  • Review the summary.
  • Click Submit.
The system will automatically:

  • Create individual animal records for each puppy/kitten.
  • Set their parents (sire and dam) automatically.
  • Record a “birth” event on each one.
  • Set them all to “Active” status.
  • Assign auto-generated names using your breeder prefix.
You can then go to each puppy’s profile to update their name, add photos, record vaccines, etc.

Part 7: Managing Contacts (Buyers & Waitlist)

Adding a Contact

  1. Go to TruePaws → Contacts.
  1. Click Add New Contact.
  1. Fill in the form:
Field Required? Description
First Name Yes Buyer’s first name
Last Name No Buyer’s last name
Email Yes Buyer’s email address
Phone No Phone number
Address No Mailing address
Status No Waitlist, Reserved, Buyer, or Inactive
Notes No Any private notes about this contact
  1. Click Save Contact.

Contact List Features

  • Filter by status — use the dropdown to show only Waitlist, Reserved, Buyers, or Inactive contacts.
  • Export to CSV — click the export button to download all contacts as a spreadsheet file. This is useful for importing into email marketing tools like Mailchimp.

Contact Profile Page

Click on any contact to see their full profile:

  • Contact information and address.
  • Inquired About — shows which animals this person inquired about (from your website’s inquiry form).
  • Purchased Animals — lists all animals you’ve sold to this person.
  • Quick action buttons to Send Email, Call, or View Available Animals.

Part 8: Displaying Animals on Your Website (Shortcodes)

Shortcodes are special codes you paste into WordPress pages or posts to display TruePaws content on your public website. Here are all the available shortcodes:

1. Display a Single Animal

 
 
 
 <code>
Invalid animal ID.
 
Replace 123 with the actual animal’s ID number (shown on the animal profile page).
Optional settings you can add:
Parameter What It Does Default
contact_url=”https://…” Custom link for the “Contact Breeder” button Your settings URL
show_ai=”true” or “false” Show or hide AI care information true
show_pedigree=”true” or “false” Show or hide the pedigree tree true
show_inquiry_form=”true” or “false” Embed an inquiry form below the animal false
show_gallery=”true” or “false” Show or hide the photo gallery true
gallery_columns=”3″ Number of columns for the gallery (2 to 6) 4
Example with options:
 
 

2. Display a Litter

 
 
This shows the litter’s information including parents, birth date, and a grid of available puppies/kittens with their photos and status badges, plus a “Contact Breeder” button.

3. Display All Available Puppies/Kittens

 
 
 
This shows a grid of all animals with “Active” status — perfect for an “Available Puppies” page.
Optional settings:
Parameter What It Does Default
limit=”6″ Maximum number of animals to show 12
breed=”Golden Retriever” Only show animals of this breed (all breeds)
show_images=”true” or “false” Show or hide photos true
Example:
 
 
 
 
 

4. Display an Inquiry Form

 
 
 
 
 
This displays a contact form that visitors can fill out to inquire about your animals. Submissions are saved to your Contacts list.
Optional settings:
Parameter What It Does Default
animal_id=”123″ Link the inquiry to a specific animal (none)
title=”Interested? Get in Touch!” Custom form title “Send an Inquiry”
The form collects:

  • First Name (required)
  • Last Name
  • Email (required)
  • Phone
  • Message (required)

Part 9: PDF Documents

TruePaws can generate two types of professional PDF documents:

1. Pedigree Certificate

  • Generated from any animal’s profile page by clicking Download Pedigree PDF.
  • Contains the animal’s name, registration number, microchip ID, breed, sex, birth date, and a 3-generation pedigree tree.
  • Includes your breeder name and the generation date.

2. Handover Packet

  • Generated from a sold animal’s profile by clicking Generate Handover PDF.
  • Contains:
  • Animal details (name, breed, sex, birth date, registration, microchip, parents)
  • Pedigree preview
  • Complete health history (vaccines, vet visits, etc.)
  • Your feeding/care instructions (from Settings)
  • General care recommendations
  • Contract and terms section
  • Your breeder information in the footer
> Note: For best PDF quality, ask your web host to ensure the TCPDF or Dompdf PHP library is installed. If neither is available, TruePaws will generate a printable HTML page instead (you can print it to PDF using your browser’s “Print to PDF” feature).

Part 10: Automated Email Notifications

TruePaws runs a daily check and sends you email reminders for:

Whelping Reminders

  • Sent 7 days before an expected whelping date.
  • Email includes the litter name, expected date, and parent names.

Vaccination Reminders

  • Automatically checks all active animals and reminds you when they reach vaccination milestone ages:
  • 6 weeks — First vaccination due
  • 9 weeks — Second vaccination due
  • 12 weeks — Third vaccination due
  • 16 weeks — Final puppy vaccination due
  • 1 year — Annual booster due
  • 2 years — Biennial health check due
  • 3 years — Triennial health check due
> Important: These emails are sent to the address you entered in Settings → Breeder Info → Email. Make sure this is filled in, or you won’t receive notifications.

Part 11: Recommended Workflow (Step by Step)

Here is the recommended order for getting the most out of TruePaws:

First-Time Setup

  1. Install and activate the plugin.
  1. Go to Settings and fill in all tabs (General, Breeder Info, Breeds, Communication).
  1. Add your custom breeds if the defaults don’t cover everything you need.

Building Your Database

  1. Add all your adult breeding animals first (sires and dams).
  1. For each animal, upload photos and fill in registration numbers and microchip IDs.
  1. Set parent relationships where known (this builds your pedigree trees).
  1. Add historical events (past vaccines, vet visits) to build each animal’s timeline.

Day-to-Day Use

  1. When a mating occurs, go to Litters → Log New Mating.
  1. Track the pregnancy using the Pregnancy Tracker cards on the Litters page.
  1. When puppies/kittens are born, use the Whelping Wizard.
  1. Update each puppy’s profile with photos, vaccines, and weight checks as they grow.
  1. Add buyers and waitlist contacts as inquiries come in.

Selling

  1. When a puppy is sold, open their profile → click Sell/Reserve → link to the buyer contact.
  1. Generate the Handover PDF to give to the new owner.
  1. Check your Sales Reports in Settings to track revenue.

Public Website

  1. Create a page called “Available Puppies” and add 
    Available No Photo

    BR26MB Puppy 1

    Male Mixed Breed

    From litter: BR26MB

    Contact Us
    Available No Photo

    BR26MB Puppy 2

    Male Mixed Breed

    From litter: BR26MB

    Contact Us
    Available No Photo

    BR26MB Puppy 3

    Male Mixed Breed

    From litter: BR26MB

    Contact Us
    Available Max

    Max

    Male Golden Retriever
    Contact Us
    .
  1. Create individual pages for special animals using 
    Invalid animal ID.
    .
  1. Add 

    Send an Inquiry

     to your contact page so visitors can reach you.
  1. Share litter pages using 
    Invalid litter ID.
    .

Part 12: Tips & Tricks

  • Use the Activity Heatmap on the Dashboard to spot gaps in your record-keeping — a quiet period might mean you forgot to log events.
  • Export contacts to CSV regularly and import into Mailchimp or similar to keep your mailing list up to date.
  • AI Marketing Bio can save you time writing listings — generate a bio, review it, and paste it into your website or social media.
  • Weight tracking is especially valuable for puppies — log weights weekly and use the growth chart to spot any puppies that may need extra attention.
  • The inquiry form shortcode with animal_id parameter lets you create animal-specific inquiry buttons, so you know exactly which animal each person is asking about.
  • Co-Owned status is useful for animals that are shared between breeders — they stay visible in your system but are clearly marked.