Latest news with #Woofzbynove8
Newsweek
03-07-2025
- Climate
- Newsweek
Dog Begs To Go Outside Despite Scorching Heat—His Reaction Says It All
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A Bernese mountain dog has left viewers on TikTok in hysterics after his hilarious response to a recent heatwave perfectly captured how many people—and pets—are coping with summer temperatures. The large dog, named Burt, could be seen urgently begging to go outside in the video from June 26 by @burttheberniesmom. Not long after his owner opened the door, Burt quickly opted for a U-turn, racing back indoors and whining in disapproval, clearly overwhelmed by the sweltering conditions. The clip, captioned "Burt has a lot to say about this heat," has struck a chord with viewers online, amassing over 1.5 million views and more than 313,000 likes to date. Many viewers on TikTok joked that the dog looked like he was complaining about the weather in a very human way, as he barked, growled, and whimpered with what seemed like comic frustration at the heat. But behind the humor lies a more serious message about pet safety during extreme temperatures. "Heat stroke occurs when the body's temperature reaches a dangerous level, typically above 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius)," Annie-Mae Levy, a professional dog trainer and behaviorist at Woofz by nove8, told Newsweek. "But animals will become distressed before reaching this temperature." Levy explained that symptoms of heat stress can escalate quickly and include rapid, heavy panting, extreme lethargy, weakness, drooling or vomiting, dizziness, a rapid heart rate, and in severe cases, seizures or unresponsiveness. "It takes minutes for heat stroke to go from bad to worse," she said. "Whether treating a cherished pet, a familiar stray, or a wild creature, knowledge and compassion could be the difference between life and death." To reduce risk during heatwaves, Levy advised several preventative measures. "Stay indoors as temperatures soar, save walkies for early morning or until the late evening, and avoid mowing the lawn to help wildlife stay cool," she said. A Bernese mountain dog runs in a field on a hot day in this stock image. A Bernese mountain dog runs in a field on a hot day in this stock image. Getty Images She also urged pet owners to avoid leaving animals in vehicles, where interior temperatures can become deadly within minutes. "A vehicle can quickly become a sauna with the air-con switched off, and even a few minutes can be fatal," Levy added. For dogs staying home, Levy recommended cooling tools like vests, mats and fans, while noting that breed, age and weight all play a role in heat tolerance. "Certain animals, such as brachycephalic dogs, are particularly susceptible to heat stroke," she said. "Also, elderly and overweight dogs are at a higher risk of suffering in hot weather, so extra caution is necessary." Brachycephalic dogs are shorter-nosed and flat-faced breeds such as pugs, French bulldogs, Boston terriers and English bulldogs. Newsweek reached out to @burttheberniesmom for more information via TikTok. Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@ with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
Business Insider
26-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
My first dog was a handful, so I built the training app of my dreams. It became a $20 million business — and we're still growing.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Natalia Shahmetova, the founder of Woofz by nove8. It has been edited for length and clarity. I have a beagle. And if you know the breed, you know they can be little monsters. When we got our dog, she was so cute, but literally ate all my socks and even my underwear. It was honestly a really horrible experience — not the dream of playtime and cuddly naps you think of when you think of puppies. As a millennial, I saw the trend that people my age prefer to get dogs instead of having kids, and I realized that dozens of people must have the same problems as I did. I'd previously worked in marketing for the app developer Gismart, so I knew that there are dozens, even hundreds, of apps for people's fitness, from yoga to gym trackers and different kinds of home workout tutorials. But when I started this project, almost nobody had released apps for dog owners, even though it's such a huge audience. I especially felt the gap in learning what to do with your dog and how to train your puppy. You could go to YouTube, go to dog training school, or read a book, but the whole process felt so not modern. So it felt like a natural fit to build my own app. We're available in the App Store and Google Play Store worldwide and have been downloaded more than 22 million times. Our content is translated into 10 languages, and we have around 120,000 active subscribers. Woofz is fully bootstrapped and quadrupling in revenue annually — we reported $20 million in annual revenue for the last year. And we have a team of about 70 employees, part-time and full-time, including a group of trainers who help us develop our programs — all positive reinforcement to help with everything from separation anxiety to basic manners. We just celebrated our sixth anniversary. Obviously, it wasn't all smooth sailing. I'm not a unicorn. In the first two years of our business, I met a lot of challenges: layoffs, the wrong budget, and wrong predictions in our business analytics. It was a really tough time for me. It's so important to find the right partners and investors in the very beginning and build the right relationships — you can't know everything, so it's really hard to start a business and to make it big without somebody who knows something about marketing, about budgets, about what you don't know. You have to build very healthy surroundings to grow as a CEO. It was a learning curve, especially as a female founder. I've had to learn to really believe in myself and my product, because otherwise, who would? While I've never experienced harassment or anything particularly terrible like that, I've been ignored in meetings, with investors directing all questions toward the men in the room. But in my experience, when you show real traction and growth as a female founder, no one can question or manipulate you. The key was that I really believed in my idea in this niche and what we're doing with our app. Now, I see that the challenges were just a big part of our growth. I'm sure there will be more lessons as we continue to expand — we're planning to launch new features soon to monitor your dog's health — but I'm not afraid. Wanting to do the best for my dog, I created a product that is helping millions of others do the same. My goal was to help people understand their dogs better, and the financials that followed have enabled the business to thrive.
