Quickly acquire pups and cut the tail to shape (4,2)

I believe the answer is:

snap up

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'quickly acquire' is the definition.
'snap up' can be an answer for 'acquire' (thesaurus). I am not sure about the 'quickly' bit.

I can't explain the remainder of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for snap up that I've seen before include "Snatch" , "Buy (a rarity) quickly" , "Grab eagerly and quickly" , "Quickly accept" , "Unhesitatingly take" .)

I've seen this clue in The Hindu.

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