This Privacy Policy explains how DogBusiness.co.uk collects, uses, stores, and protects your personal data when you use DogBusiness.co.uk. We are committed to handling your personal data responsibly, transparently, and in full compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Please read this policy carefully. By using our website or making a purchase, you acknowledge that you have read and understood how we process your personal data as described in this policy.
1. Who We Are
DogBusiness.co.uk is a digital document and template platform for dog-related businesses operating in the United Kingdom. The platform is operated by Polka Dot Consulting Limited, a company registered in England and Wales, trading as DogBusiness. Our registered office is 45 Manor Chase, Beddau, RCT, CF38 2JD. Contact: [email protected].
Polka Dot Consulting Limited trading as DogBusiness is the data controller for all personal information collected through this website. This means we are responsible for deciding how and why your personal data is processed.
We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) under registration number: ZB666227
For all data protection enquiries, please contact us at: [email protected]
2. What Personal Data We Collect
We collect the following categories of personal data:
- Account information: name, email address, and password (hashed) when you create an account.
- Purchase information: order history, product purchases, and transaction references.
- Payment information: payment is processed by Stripe; we do not store card details on our servers.
- Communications: messages you send us via email or contact forms.
- Usage data: anonymised analytics data about how you use our website (pages visited, session duration, device type).
- Technical data: IP address, browser type, and operating system, collected automatically when you visit our website.
We do not collect any special category data (such as health, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, or biometric data) and we do not knowingly collect data from children under the age of 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us immediately at [email protected].
3. How We Use Your Personal Data
We use your personal data only for the purposes described in this policy and only where we have a lawful basis for doing so. Specifically, we use your data to:
- Process and fulfil your orders and provide access to purchased digital products.
- Create and manage your account and provide you with access to your purchase history.
- Send order confirmations, receipts, and download links.
- Respond to your enquiries and provide customer support.
- Improve our website and product offerings using aggregated, anonymised analytics data.
- Send marketing communications where you have given your explicit consent to receive them.
- Detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and security incidents.
- Comply with our legal obligations under UK law, including financial record-keeping requirements.
- Facilitate the sale or transfer of our business where applicable (see Section 13).
4. Lawful Basis for Processing
Under UK GDPR Article 6, we rely on the following lawful bases for processing your personal data:
- Contract (Article 6(1)(b)): processing necessary to fulfil your order and provide access to purchased products.
- Legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c)): processing required to comply with UK law, including financial record-keeping.
- Legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)): processing for fraud prevention, security, analytics, and business sale purposes.
- Consent (Article 6(1)(a)): processing for marketing communications, where you have opted in.
5. Cookies
Strictly necessary cookies: These are essential for the website to function correctly. They keep you logged in, process your session, and enable the checkout process. These cookies do not require your consent and cannot be disabled without affecting core website functionality.
Analytics cookies: We use analytics tools, including Google Analytics, to understand how visitors use our website. Analytics cookies are not strictly necessary and will only be set with your explicit, prior consent. When you first visit our website, you will be presented with a cookie consent banner asking you to accept or decline analytics cookies. You may change your cookie preferences at any time by clicking the "Cookie Settings" link in the footer of our website.
Marketing cookies: We do not currently use marketing or advertising cookies. If we introduce them in the future, we will update this policy and seek your consent before setting them.
You can also manage cookie preferences in your browser settings. For more information about cookies and how to manage them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.
6. Sharing Your Personal Data
We do not sell your personal data to third parties. We share your personal data only in the following circumstances and only to the extent necessary for the stated purpose:
- Stripe: payment processing. Stripe processes your payment card data directly and is subject to its own privacy policy.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS): cloud hosting and file storage for our platform and purchased documents.
- Resend: transactional email delivery (order confirmations, download links).
- Analytics providers: anonymised usage data shared with analytics tools to help us improve our website.
- Legal and regulatory authorities: where required by law, court order, or regulatory obligation.
- Business sale: in the event of a sale or transfer of our business (see Section 13).
7. Data Retention
We retain your personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected. The following retention periods apply:
- Account data: retained for the duration of your account and for 2 years after account closure.
- Order and transaction records: retained for 7 years from the date of the transaction to comply with HMRC financial record-keeping requirements.
- Marketing consent records: retained until you withdraw consent or for 3 years after your last interaction with us, whichever is earlier.
- Communications: retained for 2 years from the date of the communication.
8. Your Rights Under UK GDPR
Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:
- Right of access (Article 15): you may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
- Right to rectification (Article 16): you may request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
- Right to erasure (Article 17): you may request deletion of your personal data in certain circumstances.
- Right to restriction of processing (Article 18): you may request that we restrict processing of your data in certain circumstances.
- Right to data portability (Article 20): you may request a copy of your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
- Right to object (Article 21): you may object to processing based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing purposes.
- Rights related to automated decision-making (Article 22): we do not use automated decision-making or profiling.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at [email protected] with your name, email address, and a description of your request. We will respond within one calendar month of receiving your request.
9. How to Opt Out of Marketing
If you have consented to receive marketing communications from us and wish to opt out, you may do so at any time by clicking the "unsubscribe" link in any marketing email we send you, or by contacting us at [email protected]. Opting out of marketing communications does not affect transactional emails (such as order confirmations and download links).
10. Security
We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss, alteration, or disclosure. These measures include encrypted connections (HTTPS/TLS), hashed and salted storage of account passwords, access controls, and regular security reviews. Payment card data is processed directly by Stripe and is never stored on our servers.
In the event of a personal data breach that is likely to result in a risk to your rights and freedoms, we will notify you and the ICO in accordance with our obligations under UK GDPR Article 33 and 34.
11. International Data Transfers
Some of our service providers, including Amazon Web Services and Stripe, may process personal data outside the United Kingdom. Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, including Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) approved by the ICO, or adequacy decisions by the UK Secretary of State. For further information, please contact us at [email protected].
12. Complaints
If you have a concern about how we handle your personal data, we encourage you to contact us in the first instance at [email protected].
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at any time:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Website: ico.org.uk
Online complaint form: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint
13. Business Sale and Transfer of Data
In the event that Polka Dot Consulting Limited (trading as DogBusiness) or any part of its business is sold, merged, acquired, or transferred to a third party, personal data held by us about our customers may be transferred to the new owner or successor entity as part of that transaction. We rely on legitimate interests (UK GDPR Article 6(1)(f)) as the lawful basis for such a transfer. Any new owner or successor entity will be required to use your personal data only in accordance with this Privacy Policy and to comply with all applicable UK GDPR obligations. We will notify you by email of any such transfer.
14. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, or legal requirements. We will notify you of significant changes by email before the changes take effect. The version number and date at the top of this page indicate when the policy was last revised.
15. Contact Us
For any privacy-related questions, to exercise your rights, or to raise a concern about how we handle your personal data, please contact us at:
Polka Dot Consulting Limited trading as DogBusiness
45 Manor Chase, Beddau, RCT, CF38 2JD
Email: [email protected]
ICO registration number: ZB666227
We aim to respond to all data protection enquiries within 5 business days.
DogBusiness.co.uk — Privacy Policy v2.0 — March 2026