FREE shipping on all orders $74.95 and over.

Enable Accessibility

Privacy Policy

Last updated August 12th, 2021

Paws for thought

At Ruff Wear Inc. (“Ruffwear,” “we,” “us,” etc.), we believe in exploration, that getting outside and into nature creates community, leads to self-discovery, and offers creatures both human and canine the opportunity to breathe deeply – literally and figuratively. We support those beliefs by offering a wide range of gear designed to enhance and inspire exploration by dogs and their owners.

Doing so requires that we collect personal information from our customers in the United States. We understand that this personal information needs to be collected, protected, shared, and used carefully and transparently.

Because your personal information is valuable and sensitive, we want you to be confident that we are handling it with care and respect. We also want to give you information on the tools and options you have to manage and protect that information. This Privacy Policy is part of our effort to achieve these goals.

As you interact with us, you will share your personal information in various ways. Sometimes we collect it directly from you on a voluntary basis and other times, we use technology to automatically collect it. We also work with third parties with whom we share our customers’ personal information.

This Policy applies to our Website (https://ruffwear.com/) and any sites that display these terms. It does not apply to any website, mobile app, service, or product that does not display or link to this Privacy Policy or that contains its own privacy notice.

Although Ruffwear gear may be purchased around the world, through local authorized retailers and third-party distributors, we do not sell our gear through the Website outside the United States. This Policy does not apply to any third-party sellers or distributors, including those in Europe; those sellers and distributors process your personal information in accordance with their own privacy notices. While we provide certain website and marketing support to third party distributors in Europe and the United Kingdom (https://ruffwear.co.uk/, https://ruffwear.fr/, https://ruffwear.de/), we do so as a processor and not as a controller

If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use our services. By accessing our Website or purchasing our products, you agree to this Policy.


How we collect personal information

We may collect personal information from you directly or indirectly. When you create an account with us, you will give us personal information directly. Other times, personal information is collected automatically as you use our Website. In some instances, third parties with whom we work provide personal information to us.

We collect personal information when you provide it

When you register for an account with us, you will provide contact information that includes your name, email address, and phone number. You will create a username and password or PIN, information that on subsequent visits helps us confirm your identity and makes it easier to use our Website. You also may share information through social media or Web forms.

Along with those basic identifiers, customers sometimes share stories of their adventures, along with photos they submit of themselves and their dogs. That can lead us to collecting demographic information beyond customers’ likenesses, such as their genders and ages. We never share these stories without your permission.

We take customer support seriously and provide a range of methods to communicate with us. You may share personal information with us during those interactions, whether by phone, email or online chat. That can happen offline as well, in person at special events or our store in Bend, Oregon – or even through regular old postal mail.

We collect personal information from third-party sources

We may collect personal information about you from third parties, including payment processors, data analytics companies, website hosting providers, and firms that help us with marketing, typically through email campaigns.

We also may collect personal information from online social networks if you use them to connect with Ruffwear, make a post, or if you take part in a forum, for example, on Facebook. We may collect personal information when you click “Share This” or “Like” buttons or otherwise use social media buttons or plug-ins.

We collect personal information using automated technologies

Sometimes personal information is collected by automated technologies and shared with us when Website visitors navigate through our product pages, blogs, and community stories. We may track your browsing actions and log your IP address. We may collect data that identifies the device (phone, tablet, etc.) you are using to connect online with us. We also track interactions with our Website, browsing histories, and purchase histories to make future visits to our Website more relevant and efficient.

For example, one service we leverage is Gobot to send you messages regarding abandoned carts, shopping sessions and marketing. To enable this service, Gobot may automatically collect device type, operating system, geographic location, browser type, Internet Service Provider, and various data related to usage of our website including pages visited, links clicked, non-sensitive text entered, mouse movements, referring URL, and cookie information as detailed herein. Gobot’s privacy policy can be found here. To opt out of Gobot, click here.

Other automated collection technologies – such as cookies, beacons, tags, and scripts – are used by us to analyze trends, administer the Website, and track users’ movements around the Website. We, and our third-party partners, also use these technologies to gather demographic information about our user base as individuals and in the aggregate. .

We will not knowingly collect information from individuals under 16 years old

We realize that children love dogs, and that they may be interested in the exploration gear we offer, but our site is not directed to anyone younger than 16.

We will never knowingly collect personal information from anyone younger than 16 years without legal consent (where required). If we become aware that personal information of anyone younger than 16 has been provided to us without the necessary consent, for any purpose, we will delete the information from our files.

Do-not-track requests

Some browsers offer a “Do Not Track” privacy preference. Generally, when a user turns on the Do Not Track Signal, their browser sends a message to websites that user visits requesting that the user not be tracked. Our Website currently does not respond to “Do Not Track” signals.

How we use personal information

We know your personal information is important to you, so we want to be transparent about how we use that information.

As mentioned above, customers will create profiles when they want to make purchases on our Website. Collecting this information allows easier, quicker access to future purchases on our Website. As users navigate through our site, their movements will be tracked and analyzed. Doing so allows us to improve our Website and products and make them more relevant to customers and their dogs. We also use personal information:

  • To send marketing communications, typically through email.
  • To communicate with customers about their accounts, such as when they want to change their passwords.
  • To communicate with customers when products have been recalled.
  • To respond to support requests.
  • To provide access to and maintain the security and integrity of the Website.
  • To provide updates regarding the Website and marketing information, such as when we develop and improve products, or implement surveys and contests, etc.
  • To comply with legal and regulatory requirements applicable to our business and internal policies for maintaining records.
  • To protect all parties in the event of disputes.
  • To comply with court orders and legal processes, and to enforce our Terms of Use and this Privacy Policy.
  • For any other legal, business, or marketing purposes that comply with the practices described in this Policy.

We sometimes take personal information and strip away identifying details, then combine it with other similar data that allows us to predict users’ behavior and interests. In this way, we can fine-tune our marketing campaigns and improve our product recommendations. In these cases, the persons associated with the data remain anonymous.

When we share personal information

Once your personal information is collected, as detailed above, we may share it with third parties for various reasons. We offer a wide variety of payment processors to our customers, including ShopifyShop Pay, Pay Pal Express, Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, and Google Pay. The personal information these processors will receive includes financial information such as credit card details and account numbers. We do not store this information in our systems, but facilitate your ability to use these payment options on our Website.

Google and Crazy Egg help us track customers’ movements around the Website (which is anonymized) to keep it as relevant and useful as possible. Listrak helps us with our marketing campaigns and alerting customers to products they may find useful. We also use Bamboo HR to screen job applicants interested in coming to work with us.

Note that we only share your personal information with third parties that protect the information consistent with this Policy and limit use of the information to performing the services they provide to us.

If you make a public post, other users may see it

If you make a post on a third-party social media site, such as on Facebook, or by identifying us in your social media feed by tagging us using a hashtag (#MyDogIsMy, #Ruffwear) or “at” (@Ruffwear), your personal information may be publicly available and is subject to the privacy policies of those third-party social media sites. As a reminder, this Policy describes how we will treat your personal information once it is in our possession.

We recommend you review the privacy policies of any third-party sites you visit to understand the data collection and use practices of that third party.

We may share feedback you provide to us

We think of ourselves as more than a source of gear for your dogs. We are community builders as well, and in that spirit, we encourage customers to share their outdoor adventures. Those stories typically include text and photos. Our blogs also rely on customers’ experiences to make them relevant and interesting. In these cases, we will (with your permission) publicly share your personal information when we publish your story.

We also want to hear how we’re doing. If you have suggestions for improving the Website, products, blogs, or exploration stories, we want those as well. Please be aware that any feedback relating to our site or content may be publicly shared.

Eventual successors may access information

In the event of a merger, acquisition, reorganization, bankruptcy, or other sale of all or a portion of our assets, any user information owned or controlled by us may be among the assets transferred to third parties as successors in interest. As part of this type of transaction, we reserve the right to transfer or assign your personal information to third parties. Other than to the extent ordered by a bankruptcy or other court, or as otherwise agreed to by you, the use and disclosure of all transferred user information will be subject to this Policy.

We need to comply with legal requirements

We may disclose your information to government authorities or other third parties if any lawful circumstances arise, including when:

  • You have given us permission to share your information;
  • We are required to do so by law, or in response to a subpoena or court order;
  • We believe in our sole discretion that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect against fraud, or to protect our property or other rights or those of other users of the Website, third parties, or the public at large; or
  • We believe that you have misused the Website by using it to attack or gain unauthorized access to a system or to engage in spamming or other conduct that violates applicable laws or our Terms of Use.

How we secure personal information

We have implemented industry-accepted administrative, physical, and technology-based security measures to protect against loss, misuse, unauthorized access, and alteration of personal information in our systems. We ensure that any employee, contractor, corporation, organization, or vendor who has access to personal information in our systems is subject to appropriate legal and/or professional obligations to safeguard that personal information.

While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, no method of transmission over the Internet or form of electronic storage is 100 percent secure. Therefore, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Questions or concerns about our security or privacy procedures

If you have received unwanted or unsolicited e-mail from us or purporting to be sent by us, please forward a copy of that e-mail with your comments to bark@ruffwear.com for our review. If you feel that any of our privacy practices or security standards detailed in this Privacy Policy have been violated, please let us know (see Contact Us at the end of this Policy for additional details).

Your Rights

We understand that you want to protect and control your personal information. This section details how you may review, update, correct, or delete your information.

Viewing or updating your personal information

You may update your name, contact information, and email preferences by accessing your account on the Website.

Deactivating your account

You may deactivate your Ruffwear account at any time after it has been created. To deactivate an account, please send an email to bark@ruffwear.com with “Deactivate Account” in the subject line. Upon receiving such a request, we will deactivate the account and delete personal information when allowed or required by applicable law.

Opting out of promotional emails

If you do not wish to receive marketing e-mails from us, you may follow the unsubscribe process at the bottom of the e-mail you received or email us at bark@ruffwear.com. Please keep in mind that you still may receive transactional e-mails from us (such as e-mails related to account registration or purchases, correction of user data, product recalls, password reset requests, reminder e-mails you have requested, and other similar communications) that may be necessary for us to make the Website available to you or respond to your inquiries and support requests.

Jurisdiction Specific Rights

European Economic Area, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom

Individuals from the European Union, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, have certain rights associated with their personal information based on applicable law. As noted above, Ruffwear operates ruffwear.com only for purchases in the United States and will only process personal information it receives from the European Union, United Kingdom and Switzerland as a processor on behalf of our third-party distributor, Accapi Ltd. (“Accapi”). Any personal information collected by us for Accapi is received under instructions from Accapi and subject to Accapi’s privacy policy associated with the applicable site (https://ruffwear.co.uk/, https://ruffwear.fr/, https://ruffwear.de/). In the event we receive a request from an individual in any of the above regions, we will pass this to Accapi for response as may be required by local law.

California Consumer Rights

The California Consumer Privacy Act provides specific rights to those who live in the state of California. If you are a California-based consumer, as that term is defined under California law, this section applies in addition to all other applicable rights and information contained in this Policy:

  • You have the right to request that we provide you with information about what personal information we collect, use, and disclose.
  • You have the right to request that we delete personal information we, or our service providers, store about you.
  • We will not discriminate or retaliate against you if you elect to exercise any rights under this section of our Privacy Policy.
  • You may request that we not sell your personal information. We do not sell, rent, lease, or trade your personal information with third parties and your information is only shared with third parties as described in this Policy.
  • You have the right to designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf. Please see the Identity Verification Requirement below for information on our process for verifying that we have received a legally valid request.

If you are a California consumer and have additional questions based on this section of our Privacy Policy, email us at bark@ruffwear.com or call us toll-free at (888) 783-3932. Be sure to check this Policy for updates, as we will review it at least every 12 months and make necessary changes.

Identity verification requirement

The law requires us to verify that any request submitted was made by someone with the legal right to access the information. Therefore, before accessing or divulging any information pursuant to a data subject access request, we may request that you provide us with additional information, or log into your account and submit a request, so we can verify your identity and legal authority.

To make a request, please contact us at bark@ruffwear.com with “Personal Information Request” in the subject line and provide full details about your request, including your contact information and anything you believe is relevant. We will provide a response to an access request within the timeframes required by law. If we cannot substantively respond in a timely manner, we will notify you and provide the reason for the delay.

Under certain circumstances, we may not fulfill your request, such as when doing so would interfere with our regulatory or legal obligations, when we cannot verify your identity, if your request involves disproportionate cost or effort, or where the law allows us to retain that information. But we will respond to your request within a reasonable time, as required by law, and provide an explanation.

Payment Processors

Please note that where you have used a third-party payment processor (e.g. Amazon Pay, PayPal, GooglePay, ShopPay, etc.) to facilitate a purchase, that third party’ use of your personal information is and is subject to their terms and privacy policy. To exercise your rights associated with your personal information provided by you to one of these providers, please contact that third party directly.

Updates

This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time to reflect our personal information handling practices. We reserve the right to amend this Policy at any time, for any reason, without additional notice to you, other than through posting the updated Privacy Policy on our Website. We invite you to return to this page to ensure that you are informed of updates we make about how we collect, use, and protect customer information. You can see when this Privacy Policy was last updated by checking the “last updated” date displayed at the beginning of this Policy.

Contact Us

If you have questions about how this Privacy Policy and our information handling practices, please contact us:

Ruffwear, Inc.
2843 NW Lolo Drive
Bend, OR 97703

bark@ruffwear.com

(888) 783-3932