Privacy Policy

What we collect

When you create an account and a dog profile, we store:

• About you: your display name, email address, and a city or neighbourhood label you type in. Your password is handled by our authentication provider and is never visible to us.
• Your location, if you share it: if you use the “share my location” feature, we store the coordinates your browser reports. We use them only to calculate distance. Other members are shown an approximate distance in miles, never your coordinates, address, or map position.
• About your dog: name, breed, sex, birth date, weight, and any temperament notes you write.
• Photos you upload of your dog.
• Veterinary documents you upload, along with the document type and date, so a reviewer can verify them.
• Your activity on the platform: which dogs you express interest in, and the resulting matches.
• Messages you send to another owner after a mutual match.
• Waitlist entries: if you join the waitlist without creating an account, we store the email, city, and breed you provide.

What we do not collect

We do not run advertising trackers or third-party analytics. We do not collect your precise street address. We do not buy data about you from anyone, and we do not sell or rent your information. The only cookies we set are the ones that keep you signed in.

Who can see what

• Other signed-in members can see your dog's profile, photos, whether it is health-verified, and roughly how far away it is.
• Your veterinary documents are private. Other members never see them, only whether verification passed.
• Our reviewers can see veterinary documents in order to verify them, and can see the member roster. This access is limited to accounts we mark as administrators.
• Nobody browsing anonymously can see member or dog data. You must be signed in.

Your messages

Messages between two owners are private to those two people. Our staff cannot read them.

There is one exception. If either owner reports a conversation, a reviewer can read that conversation while they look into the report, so that we can act on harassment, welfare concerns, or falsified documents. That access ends when the report is resolved or dismissed. This limit is enforced by our database, not by staff discipline.

Individual messages cannot be edited or deleted. That is deliberate: a reported conversation must not be alterable after the fact. All of your messages are removed when your account is deleted.

Who processes it for us

We use Supabase for our database, sign-in, and file storage, and Vercel for hosting. They process data on our behalf in order to run the service. We do not share your information with anyone else except where the law requires it.

How long we keep it

We keep your account and dog profiles for as long as your account exists. If you ask us to delete your account, we remove your profile, dogs, photos, and veterinary documents. Waitlist entries are kept until we launch in your area or you ask us to remove yours.

Your choices

You can ask us to show you what we hold about you, correct it, delete it, or send you a copy. Email founder@theplugai.info and we will respond within 30 days. You can stop sharing your location at any time from your dashboard.

Children

Forming Paws is not intended for anyone under 18, and we do not knowingly collect information from children. If you believe a child has given us information, email us and we will delete it.

Security

Access to member data is enforced at the database level, so one member's account cannot read another's private records. Veterinary documents are stored in access-controlled storage. No system is perfect; if we ever discover a breach affecting your information, we will tell you.

Changes

If we change this policy in a way that affects what we collect or who sees it, we will update the date above and notify members by email.

Contact

Questions about privacy go to founder@theplugai.info.