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Privacy Policy

Last updated: December 11, 2025

Welcome to Darling Dog (“Darling Dog,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). We’re a Southern lifestyle brand celebrating the soulful bond between dogs and their people — and that includes respecting the humans behind the stories.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, share, and protect your information when you:

  • Visit our website at darlingdog.com

  • Subscribe to our newsletter or paid membership

  • Submit stories, memorials, photos, or other content

  • Enter a giveaway, promotion, or other campaign

  • Interact with us via embedded forms or tools on our site

By using our site, you agree to the practices described here.

If you have questions, you can always reach us at:
Email: beau@darlingdog.com

1. Who we are & scope of this Policy

Darling Dog is a digital/media and lifestyle brand focused on dog stories, Southern culture, and community. This Policy applies to information we collect through:

  • Our website at darlingdog.com

  • Our newsletter and subscription services

  • Forms for submissions, memorials, contact, and giveaways

  • Analytics and session-recording tools we use to understand how people use the site

It does not cover third-party websites, apps, or services we link to (like Instagram, Facebook, or Substack). Those have their own privacy policies.

2. Information we collect

We collect information in three main ways: what you give us, what our systems collect automatically, and what we receive from third parties.

2.1. Information you provide directly

Depending on how you interact with us, you may share:

  • Contact information

    • Name

    • Email address

    • City/State or location details

    • Social media handles (if you choose to share them)

  • Story & memorial submissions

    • Your written stories, tributes, and text you submit

    • Your dog’s name, age, breed, dates, and other details

    • Photos, videos, and other media you upload

    • Any details about your life that you choose to include

  • Newsletter & membership information

    • Email address and subscription preferences

  • Giveaways, promotions, or surveys

    • Entry information (e.g., contact details, eligibility info)

    • Responses to survey questions or feedback forms

  • Contact messages

    • Information you include when you contact us for support, collaboration, or questions.

Please don’t submit any sensitive personal information (like health data about you, financial account numbers, or government IDs) through general forms or stories.

2.2. Information collected automatically

When you visit darlingdog.com, we and our service providers may automatically collect:

  • Device & usage information

    • IP address

    • Browser type and version

    • Device type, operating system, screen resolution

    • Pages you visit, time spent, clicks, scrolling, referring/exit pages, and similar usage patterns

  • Cookies and similar technologies
    We use cookies and similar technologies to:

    • Remember your preferences (including cookie consent)

    • Keep the site secure and functioning

    • Understand how visitors use the site

    • Improve content, layout, and performance

See Section 5 (Cookies & tracking technologies) for more detail.

2.3. Information from third parties

We may receive information about you from:

  • Subscription and payment platforms (e.g., our membership provider and their payment processor)

    • Confirmation that a payment was successful

    • Limited billing details (like last 4 digits of a card and expiration date)

    • Subscription status (active, canceled, etc.)
      We do not store your full payment card number.

  • Analytics and session-recording tools

    • Aggregated data about how users interact with our site (page views, scroll depth, clicks, etc.)

  • Social media platforms (like Instagram and Facebook)

    • If you follow or interact with us there, those platforms may share information with us in accordance with their own policies and your settings.

3. How we use your information

We use the information we collect for purposes including:

  1. To operate and maintain the site

    • Providing access to stories, memorials, and other content

    • Handling submissions and displaying them on the site or social channels (when approved)

    • Managing comments and community interactions (where enabled)

  2. To communicate with you

    • Sending newsletters, issues, updates, and editorial content

    • Responding to your messages, questions, or support requests

    • Contacting you about a submission, memorial, or giveaway entry

  3. To manage subscriptions and payments

    • Creating and managing your account or membership

    • Processing payments via our third-party payment processor

    • Sending transactional emails (e.g., receipts, renewal notices)

  4. To feature your content (with your permission)

    • Reviewing submissions and memorials for publication

    • Editing and formatting stories for clarity, length, and style

    • Featuring your pup’s stories or photos on the site, in the newsletter, or on our social channels

  5. To improve and protect our services

    • Analyzing website traffic and engagement (e.g., via analytics and heatmaps)

    • Testing and improving the design, layout, and functionality of the site

    • Preventing spam, abuse, and security issues (e.g., via reCAPTCHA and similar tools)

  6. To comply with legal obligations

    • Maintaining records as required by law

    • Responding to lawful requests from authorities where applicable

4. Legal bases for processing (EEA/UK visitors)

If you are in the European Economic Area (EEA) or the United Kingdom, we process your personal data under one or more of the following legal bases:

  • Consent – for example, when you subscribe to our newsletter, accept non-essential cookies, or submit content for publication.

  • Contract – when processing is necessary to provide you with a subscription or other services you’ve requested.

  • Legitimate interests – for example, to understand how the site is used, to improve our content, and to secure our site, as long as these interests are not overridden by your rights and interests.

  • Legal obligations – when we need to comply with laws and regulations.

5. Cookies & tracking technologies

Cookies are small text files stored on your device when you visit a website. We use:

  1. Essential cookies

    • Required for the site to function (e.g., remembering cookie preferences, enabling core features, and protecting forms).

    • These cannot be switched off in our systems, though you may be able to block them in your browser (which can break site functionality).

  2. Functional and comment cookies

    • Used to remember details you enter when commenting or submitting content (such as your name and email) so you don’t have to re-enter them every time.

  3. Analytics cookies

    • Set by tools such as Google Analytics to help us understand how visitors reach and use our site, so we can improve content and layout.

    • These cookies generally collect aggregated, pseudonymous data (like page views, session duration, and referrer pages).

  4. Session recording & heatmap tools

    • Tools like Microsoft Clarity may record anonymized interaction data (e.g., mouse movements, clicks, scrolling, and pages visited) to help us see how the site is being used in practice.

    • Recordings focus on site behavior, not on identifying you personally, and are used to diagnose usability issues and improve the experience.

  5. Security & anti-spam tools

    • Tools such as Google reCAPTCHA help protect forms and comment sections from spam and abuse. These tools may use cookies or similar technologies in accordance with their own privacy policies.

Your choices about cookies

  • You can manage your cookie preferences via the cookie banner or settings on our site (where available).

  • Most browsers also allow you to block or delete cookies through their settings. Blocking some cookies may affect how the site works.

6. How we share your information

We don’t sell your personal information. We may share it in these limited circumstances:

  1. Service providers and vendors
    We work with trusted third-party providers to help run our business, such as:

    • Website hosting and maintenance

    • Email marketing and newsletter distribution

    • Membership and payment processing

    • Analytics, session recording, and performance monitoring

    • Form and spam-protection tools

    These providers only access your information as needed to perform services on our behalf and are expected to protect it appropriately.

  2. Publication of stories and memorials

    When you submit a story, photo, or memorial and we publish it, the information you include (for example, your name, your dog’s name, your city/state, and the story itself) may be visible to anyone who visits the site or our social channels.

    If you’d like us to update or remove a published piece, you can contact us at [email protected].

  3. Legal and safety reasons

    We may share information if we reasonably believe it is necessary to:

    • Comply with applicable laws, regulations, or legal processes

    • Respond to lawful requests by public authorities

    • Protect the rights, property, or safety of Darling Dog, our users, or others

  4. Business transfers

    If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, restructuring, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to this Privacy Policy or an updated version that will be communicated to you.

7. How long we keep your information

We keep your information for as long as it is reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Policy, including to:

  • Provide you with content, subscriptions, or services

  • Maintain the integrity of our editorial archive (stories, memorials, and features)

  • Comply with legal, accounting, or reporting obligations

  • Resolve disputes and enforce our agreements

If you request deletion of your information, we will review your request and remove or anonymize data where required or appropriate, subject to any legal obligations to retain certain records.

Published stories and memorials may remain part of our editorial record, but we will work with you in good faith if you’d like identifying information removed or minimized.

8. Your rights & choices

Your rights will depend on where you live, but may include:

  • Access – to ask what personal information we hold about you.

  • Correction – to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.

  • Deletion – to request that we delete some or all of your personal information.

  • Restriction – to request that we limit the use of your information in certain cases.

  • Objection – to object to certain types of processing (such as direct marketing or certain analytics).

  • Portability – to request a copy of your information in a usable format (where applicable law requires it).

  • Withdraw consent – where we rely on consent (for example, for newsletters or non-essential cookies), you can withdraw that consent at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, please email us at beau@darlingdog.com with enough information to identify you and your request. We may need to verify your identity before acting on your request.

If you are in the EEA or UK and believe we have not handled your request appropriately, you may also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

If you are a California resident, you may have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA), such as the right to know, delete, and opt out of certain “sharing” of personal information. We will honor applicable rights requests in accordance with those laws.

9. Children’s privacy

Our content is aimed at adults and older teens who love dogs. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13 (or a higher age where required by local law) without appropriate parental consent.

If you believe that a child has provided us with personal information without consent, please contact us at [email protected], and we will take appropriate steps to delete that information.

10. International visitors

Our website may be accessed from outside the country where we are based. If you visit from another country, be aware that your information may be processed in a country whose data protection laws may differ from those in your jurisdiction.

Where required by law, we take steps to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place for cross-border data transfers.

11. How we protect your information

We use reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your personal information, including:

  • Secure hosting environments and access controls

  • Limiting access to your information to people who need it to do their jobs

  • Using reputable third-party providers for key services such as payments and analytics

No system is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security, but we work to protect your data and respond promptly to any issues.

12. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technologies, or legal requirements. When we do, we’ll revise the “Last updated” date at the top of this page.

In some cases, we may also notify you of significant changes by email or by posting a notice on the site.

13. Contact us

If you have questions, concerns, or requests about this Policy or how we handle your information, you can reach us at:

Email: [email protected]
Mailing address: PO Box 1226; Selma, AL, 36702