Privacy Policy

Last updated: June 2026 · Salt Lake City pilot

Plain English first. We collect what we need to match pets with great sitters, run real insurance, and reply when you contact us. We don't sell your data. We don't share it with marketing networks. When the pilot ends and we operate at scale, we'll expand this policy with full GDPR/CCPA language and post the updated version here.

Who we are

Houndtrust is a Salt Lake City-based dog sitting and boarding service operated by David Van Wagoner. You can reach us anytime via our contact page.

What we collect

From pet owners

Your name, phone number, email, and home address
Emergency contact details you provide
Information about your dog: breed, age, vaccinations, vet, medical history, behavior, routine, and any other details you share on the intake form
Vaccination records or photos you provide to us
Your typed and/or drawn signature on the authorization form
Booking history, communication with us, and reviews you write

From sitters and applicants

Name, contact information, date of birth, address, and proof of identity
Sitting experience, certifications, references, and links to public profiles
Background check results from our third-party screening provider, with your consent
Information about your home, pets, and household relevant to sitting
Tax information required to pay you

From everyone who visits the site

Standard server logs from our hosting provider (page requests, device type, referrer) — we run no tracking or analytics scripts on the site
Messages you send via the contact form

How we use it

To match pets with vetted sitters and coordinate stays
To run background checks on sitter applicants
To bind and operate our insurance policy and respond to claims
To pay sitters and process bookings
To respond when you contact us
To improve our service based on what we learn during the pilot

Who we share it with

We share information only with the parties needed to provide the service:

Your matched sitter (for pet owners) — only the information needed to care for your dog
Our background check provider (for sitter applicants), with your consent
Our insurance broker and underwriter when binding a policy or processing a claim
Our payment processor to handle bookings and payouts
Web3Forms, which delivers our form submissions by email
Law enforcement, when required by valid legal process

We do not sell your data. We do not share it for advertising.

How long we keep it

We keep booking records, intake forms, and sitter applications for as long as needed to operate the service, support insurance claims, and meet our legal obligations — typically at least 7 years for tax and insurance reasons. You may request deletion of your data at any time, subject to those retention requirements.

How we protect it

We use industry-standard security practices: encrypted connections (HTTPS) for the site and access controls on our systems. During the pilot, access to your data is limited to the founder. No system is perfectly secure, but we take this seriously.

Your rights

You can ask us to:

Show you the information we have about you
Correct anything that's wrong
Delete your data (subject to legal and insurance retention requirements)
Stop using your data for any specific purpose

Send those requests via our contact page and we'll respond within 30 days.

Cookies

The site itself sets no cookies today. If that changes, we'll only use what's strictly needed to make the site work — never third-party advertising or tracking cookies — and we'll update this policy.

Children

Houndtrust is not intended for users under 18. We don't knowingly collect information from minors.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy in any material way, we'll post the new version here with an updated date and email anyone with an active booking or application.

Contact

Privacy questions? Reach us via our contact page or write to Houndtrust · Salt Lake City, Utah.

A note on this policy. This is the working pilot version, written in plain English so you can actually read it. Before we open to bookings at scale, we'll have it reviewed by counsel and expand it with full GDPR/CCPA-style detail.