What we collect about you and your dog, what we do with it, and the choices you have.
This policy explains what Vriend, Inc., doing business as Tether ("Tether," "we," "us") collects when you use tether.pet, The Ruff, and the Tether app, what we do with it, who we share it with, and the choices you have. It applies to people in the United States and Canada, where we sell our products. If you do not agree with it, do not use the products.
When you order or create an account we collect your name, email address, shipping and billing address, phone number if you give it, and the details of what you bought. Payment card details go straight to Stripe, our payment processor, and we receive only a confirmation and the last four digits of your card.
When you set up a dog in the app we collect the profile you enter, such as name, breed, age, sex, weight, and anything you note about health or behavior. The Ruff itself collects readings from your dog while it is worn, including movement and gait data from motion sensors, vibration, surface temperature, radar-derived measurements of breathing and movement, and sound-derived features used to detect vocalization. [Engineering to confirm whether any audio is stored as recordings or only processed into features on the device and discarded, and whether raw sensor streams or only derived values leave the device.] These readings are tied to your dog's profile and to your account.
The app collects technical information such as your phone model, operating system, app version, device identifiers, crash reports, and the times the device connected. To pair and sync over Bluetooth, some operating systems require location permission. [Engineering to confirm whether the app collects or stores location, and if so at what precision and for what purpose.] Our website collects standard server logs, including IP address, browser type, and the pages you visit.
When you write to us, sign up for emails, or join a waitlist we keep what you send us and your consent record. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18, and our products are not directed at children. If you believe a child has given us information, contact us and we will delete it.
We use your information to fulfil and ship orders, run your account, pair and sync your Ruff, compute the Pain Probability Index and the explanations and recommendations in the app, keep the service secure and working, answer support requests, send service messages about your order, your device, or your membership, and, where you have agreed, send marketing emails you can opt out of at any time.
Readings from your dog and everything the system derives from them belong to Tether, as our Terms explain, and we use them to run your account and to improve how the system detects pain. Where we use them beyond your own account we de-identify them and combine them with data from other dogs so that they cannot reasonably be linked back to you, and we use that de-identified, aggregated data for research, model development, and publications. Personal information that identifies you is used only as this policy describes. We do not use your personal information to make automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.
We share personal information only with companies that help us run the service and only for that purpose, including Stripe for payments, our cloud hosting and data storage providers, our email and customer support tools, shipping carriers, and, if we use them, analytics providers. These providers may use the information only on our instructions. We may also share information when the law requires it, to protect our rights, our customers, or the public, or as part of a merger, sale, or reorganization of the company, in which case this policy will continue to apply to your information until it is changed.
We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it with third parties for their own advertising. If that ever changes we will update this policy and give you the choices the law requires first.
At the moment tether.pet uses only the cookies and similar tools needed for the site to work, including the ones our payment processor sets during checkout. If we add analytics or advertising tools we will update this section and, where the law requires it, ask for your consent before they run. Your browser can block or delete cookies, though some parts of the site or checkout may not work without them. We honor Global Privacy Control signals where the law requires it.
We keep your account and your dog's readings for as long as your account is open, so that the system can keep comparing new readings with your dog's own history. If you close your account we delete or de-identify your personal information within 90 days, except for records we have to keep for tax, accounting, warranty, or legal reasons, and except for de-identified, aggregated data that no longer identifies you. Order records are kept for the period our accounting and tax obligations require.
Data moves between The Ruff, the app, and our servers over encrypted connections, and it is stored with access limited to the people and systems that need it. No method of storage or transmission is perfectly secure, so we cannot promise absolute security, but we take it seriously and will tell you and any regulator the law requires if a breach affects your information.
You can view and change your account and dog profile in the app. You can opt out of marketing emails using the link in any of them, and you can turn off Bluetooth or location permissions on your phone, though the device will not sync without Bluetooth. You can close your account by contacting us.
Depending on where you live you may have the right to ask what personal information we hold about you, to receive a copy of it, to correct it, to delete it, to limit how we use it, and to not be discriminated against for exercising those rights. Residents of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Utah, Texas, Oregon, Montana, and other states with consumer privacy laws have these rights under those laws, and California residents may also ask whether we sell or share personal information, which we do not. Canadian residents have rights of access and correction under PIPEDA and provincial laws, and residents of Quebec have additional rights under Quebec's private sector privacy law. To exercise any of these rights write to us at [privacy contact email]. We will verify your identity, respond within the time the applicable law allows, and you may authorize someone else to act for you where the law permits.
We are based in Kansas City, Missouri, and store data in the United States. If you use the products from Canada your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States, where privacy laws may differ from those in your province. By using the products you agree to that transfer. Our privacy officer for Canadian purposes can be reached at [privacy contact email].
We send service emails about orders, devices, and membership to everyone with an account. We send marketing emails only to people who have asked for them, and every one includes a way to unsubscribe. For Canadian recipients this is the express consent Canada's anti-spam law requires, and you can withdraw it at any time.
We will update this policy as the products change. If a change is material we will tell you by email or in the app before it takes effect. The date at the top is the date this version took effect. Questions, requests, and complaints can be sent to [privacy contact email] or by mail to [company mailing address]. If you are not satisfied with our response, residents of Canada may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada or their provincial commissioner, and United States residents may contact their state attorney general.