Privacy Policy

PupVoice is an independent dog news and advocacy publication at pupvoice.com. This policy explains what information we collect when you visit the site, use our forms, or subscribe to our newsletter — and what we do and don’t do with it. PupVoice is the data controller for this website.

1. Information we collect

We collect very little, and nothing sneaky. There are three buckets:

• Things you give us. When you use the contact form we receive your name, email address, and message. When you subscribe to the newsletter we receive your email address. When you submit a dog’s story we receive the story, any photos you send, and your contact details.
• Things collected automatically. Like nearly every website, we and our service providers receive standard technical data: IP address, browser and device type, the pages you visit, how you found us, and general (city-level) location. This happens through cookies and similar technologies described below.
• Things we never collect. PupVoice has no user accounts and sells nothing, so we never ask for passwords or payment details.

2. How we use your information

• To reply to your messages and story submissions
• To send the newsletter you signed up for (every email includes an unsubscribe link)
• To verify and publish reader stories, with the submitter’s permission
• To understand which stories matter to readers and improve the site
• To show the advertising that keeps PupVoice free to read
• To meet legal obligations

Where the GDPR or UK GDPR applies, our legal bases are: your consent (for the newsletter and personalized advertising), our legitimate interests (running, securing, and improving an ad-supported publication), and compliance with legal obligations. You can withdraw consent at any time.

3. Cookies and similar technologies

Cookies are small files stored by your browser that help websites work and remember things. PupVoice uses three kinds:

• Essential — needed for the site to function and to remember your consent choices.
• Analytics — help us understand how readers use the site (see section 5).
• Advertising — used by advertising partners to show relevant ads, limit repetition, and measure performance (see section 4).

You can control cookies through your browser settings and, where the consent banner appears, through our privacy settings. More detail lives in our cookie policy.

4. Advertising and your choices

PupVoice is supported by advertising. Ads on this site are or may be served by third-party partners, including Google and Mediavine.

Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies and similar identifiers to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website and other websites. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to show you ads based on your visits to this site and other sites on the internet. You can read more at How Google uses information from sites that use its services.

You can opt out of personalized advertising:

• Google: Google Ads Settings
• United States: aboutads.info/choices and optout.networkadvertising.org
• Europe: youronlinechoices.eu

If you visit from the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, personalized advertising runs only with your consent, which we collect through a Google-certified consent management platform. You can change or withdraw your choices at any time via the privacy settings link on this site.

As advertising partners are added or their requirements change, we update this section with their specific disclosures.

5. Analytics

We use Google Analytics to see, in aggregate, which stories readers value and how the site performs — page views, session length, rough geography. We do not use it to identify you personally. You can opt out with the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on, and where the consent banner appears, analytics cookies load only if you agree.

6. Email newsletter

Your email address is used for one thing: sending you the PupVoice newsletter. It is stored with our email service provider, which processes it only on our instructions. Every email includes a one-click unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing takes effect immediately. We never sell the list, and we never use it for anyone else’s marketing.

7. How we share information

We share personal information only with:

• Service providers that help us run the site — hosting, email delivery, analytics, and advertising — under agreements that limit what they may do with it
• Advertising partners, as described in section 4
• Authorities, if the law genuinely requires it
• A successor organization if PupVoice is ever transferred, under this same policy

We do not sell personal information for money. Under some US state laws, third-party advertising cookies can count as “sharing” or “targeted advertising.” You can opt out through the consent banner, the links in section 4, or the Global Privacy Control browser signal, which we honor where the law requires.

8. Data retention and deletion

• Contact messages — kept while we handle your inquiry and for a reasonable record-keeping period, then deleted
• Newsletter address — kept until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete it
• Story submissions — kept while the story is published, plus our record of your permission
• Analytics and advertising data — retained according to those providers’ own schedules

Want something gone sooner? Email us (section 14) and we will delete it within the timeframe the law requires — usually within 30 days.

9. Your privacy rights

Depending on where you live, you have some or all of these rights over your personal information:

• Access it and get a copy
• Correct it
• Delete it
• Restrict or object to how we use it
• Receive it in a portable format
• Withdraw consent at any time, without affecting what happened before
• Complain to your data protection authority — in the UK, that’s the ICO

If you live in California or another US state with a privacy law, you also have the right to know, correct, and delete personal information, to opt out of “sharing” and targeted advertising, and not to be discriminated against for exercising any of these rights.

To exercise any right, email us with the subject “Privacy request” (section 14). We may need to verify it’s really you, and we will respond within the timeframe required by law.

10. Children’s privacy

PupVoice is written for adults and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has sent us information, contact us and we will delete it.

11. International transfers and security

Our service providers may process data in countries other than yours, including the United States. Where European or UK law applies, those transfers rely on appropriate safeguards such as standard contractual clauses. We protect data with HTTPS encryption, limited access, and reputable providers — while being honest that no method of transmission or storage is 100% secure.

12. Third-party links

Our stories often link to rescues, shelters, fundraisers, and social media. Those sites have their own privacy practices, which we don’t control — review their policies before sharing personal information there.

13. Changes to this policy

When we change this policy, we update it here and change the date at the top. If a change is significant, we will say so prominently on the site.

14. Contact us

For privacy questions or requests, email hello@pupvoice.com with the subject “Privacy request”, or use our contact page. A real person reads every message.