Privacy Policy

Who we are

Paws4Purpose (Pty) Ltd (registration 2026/375064/07) is an owner-trained dog school based at Vitozol Dog Park, 362 Valley Road, North Riding, Roodepoort 2169, South Africa. For the purposes of the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA), we are the responsible party for the personal information described in this policy. Our Information Officer is Diane Redelinghuys, reachable at info@paws4purpose.co.za or +27 76 525 0886.

This policy explains what we collect, why, who sees it, how long we keep it, and the rights you have. We have tried to write it the way we speak: plainly.

What we collect

When you fill in a form, message us, phone us, or chat with the assistant on this site, we may collect: your name and contact details (email, phone, WhatsApp); your suburb or area; how you heard about us; your preferred contact channel and times; and everything you choose to tell us about your dog, including its name, breed, age, sex, sterilisation status, vaccination status and history of reactivity.

If you apply for the Service programme, we also ask, with your explicit consent, for documents that contain health information: a letter from your doctor or psychologist and your reason for needing a service dog. Under POPIA this is special personal information, and we treat it that way. You are never required to hand it over to talk to us; it is needed only if you want to proceed with a Service application.

We also collect basic technical information when you use this website (see our Cookie Notice) and records of our correspondence with you, including emails, WhatsApp messages, SMSes and chat conversations.

Why we collect it, and the legal grounds

We process your information to: respond to your enquiry or application; assess whether a programme is the right fit for you and your dog; arrange assessments and classes; send invoices and record payments; send you practical reminders (class details, vaccination renewals, documents outstanding); keep everyone at the park safe; and meet our legal obligations, including tax and accounting rules.

Our legal grounds under POPIA are: performing the agreement we have with you (or steps you ask us to take before one exists); our legitimate interests in running a small training school safely and well; your consent, where we rely on it (health documents and marketing); and compliance with the law.

The health documents, and the automated completeness check

Documents you upload for a Service application are stored securely and restricted so that their contents are seen only by Diane. When you upload documents, an automated assistant checks only that everything is complete: that letters are present, signed and dated. It never reads your documents for anything else, it does not assess or interpret any diagnosis, and its output records only whether items are present or missing. We will never publish, share or discuss your diagnosis, medication or condition, and our automated messages never contain health details.

Who we share information with

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for anyone else's marketing. We share it only with: our website, CRM, booking and invoicing platform, provided by our technology partner Growzilla, which processes information on our instructions as an operator under POPIA; communication services used to send email, SMS and WhatsApp messages on our behalf; our accountants and tax advisers, to the extent the law requires; and authorities, if the law obliges us to.

Some of these platforms are hosted outside South Africa. Where information is transferred across borders, we take steps to ensure the recipient is bound to a level of protection substantially similar to POPIA.

Vitozol Dog Park is our venue. We do not hand your personal information to the park; park rules are applied by us.

Payments

We invoice by email and you pay by EFT. We never ask for and never store your card details.

Marketing

We only send marketing (like news about programmes or events) if you have opted in, and every message gives you a way to opt out. Practical service messages, like class confirmations, invoices and vaccination reminders, are part of running your training and are not marketing.

How long we keep information

We keep enquiry records that do not become clients for up to 24 months, then delete or anonymise them. Client records, including training and invoicing history, are kept for the duration of your training and for 5 years afterwards to meet tax and record-keeping requirements. Service application health documents are kept only as long as needed for your application and active training, and are deleted on request once no longer required. Chat and message histories follow the same rules.

How we protect it

Access to your information is limited to Diane and to the systems described above. Health documents carry restricted access. Our platforms use encryption in transit, and accounts are protected with authentication. If a data breach ever occurs that affects you, we will notify you and the Information Regulator as POPIA requires.

Children

Our agreements are with adults. Handlers under 18 train with the involvement and consent of a parent or guardian, and we collect a child's information only from and with the consent of that parent or guardian.

Your rights

You may ask us at any time: what information we hold about you; to correct it; to delete it, where we are not legally required to keep it; to object to processing based on our legitimate interests; and to withdraw any consent you gave, including for health documents or marketing, without affecting what was lawfully done before the withdrawal. Withdrawing consent for health documents may mean a Service application cannot continue, and we will tell you if so.

To exercise any of these rights, email info@paws4purpose.co.za with the subject line "Data request". We respond within a reasonable time and, at the latest, within the periods POPIA allows.

If you are not satisfied with how we handle your information, you may complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa): www.inforegulator.org.za.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, the new version appears on this page with a new date at the top. If a change materially affects how we use information you have already given us, we will tell you directly.

Contact

Paws4Purpose (Pty) Ltd, Vitozol Dog Park, 362 Valley Road, North Riding, Roodepoort 2169. Email info@paws4purpose.co.za. Phone or WhatsApp +27 76 525 0886.