Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Heidi's Four Legged Explorers is a sole-trader pet care business based in Broadstone, Dorset, providing dog walking, puppy social walks, home visits, and pet taxi services across Poole, Broadstone, Wimborne, and surrounding areas.

Data controller: Heidi, Heidi's Four Legged Explorers
Contact: [email protected]
Phone: 07704 463263

2. What information we collect

We may collect the following personal information:

• Contact details: your name, email address, phone number, and home address (where required for service delivery).
• Pet information: your pet's name, breed, age, health conditions, veterinary details, and behavioural notes necessary to provide safe care.
• Enquiry and booking details: information you provide when submitting an enquiry form, joining a waiting list, or booking a service.
• Communications: messages sent via email, WhatsApp, or our website contact form.
• Website usage data: anonymised analytics data (pages visited, device type, approximate location) collected via analytics tools to help us improve the site.

3. How we use your information

We use your personal information to:

• Respond to your enquiries and provide the services you have requested.
• Manage bookings, waiting lists, and service schedules.
• Ensure the safety and welfare of your pets in our care.
• Send service-related communications (appointment reminders, updates, invoices).
• Comply with our legal and insurance obligations.
• Improve our website and services using anonymised analytics data.

4. Legal basis for processing

We process your personal data on the following legal bases:

• Contract: processing is necessary to perform a contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract.
• Legitimate interests: to respond to enquiries, manage our business, and improve our services, where these interests are not overridden by your rights.
• Legal obligation: where we are required to retain records for insurance, tax, or regulatory purposes.
• Consent: where you have given explicit consent, for example to receive marketing communications.

5. How we share your information

We do not sell or rent your personal information to third parties. We may share your information with:

• Our insurance provider, where required to process a claim.
• Your nominated veterinarian, in the event of a pet health emergency.
• Service providers who help us operate our website and communications (e.g. email hosting), who are bound by data processing agreements.
• Law enforcement or regulatory authorities, where required by law.

6. How long we keep your information

We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. Typically:

• Client and booking records are retained for up to 6 years after the end of our business relationship, in line with HMRC requirements.
• Enquiries that do not result in a booking are deleted within 12 months.
• Website analytics data is retained in anonymised form.

7. Your rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you.
• Rectification of inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Erasure ("right to be forgotten") in certain circumstances.
• Restriction of processing in certain circumstances.
• Data portability where processing is based on consent or contract.
• Object to processing based on legitimate interests.
• Withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at [email protected]. We will respond within one month.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or by calling 0303 123 1113.

8. Cookies and analytics

Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to improve your browsing experience and collect anonymised usage statistics. You can control cookie settings through your browser. Where we use analytics tools, data is processed in accordance with our cookie consent mechanism.

9. Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorised access, loss, or disclosure. Our website uses HTTPS encryption for all data in transit.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The current version will always be available on this page with the effective date shown at the top. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

11. Contact us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal data, please contact us: