Privacy Policy

German Shepherd Country | Privacy Policy

German Shepherd Country (“Company,” “we,” or “us”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting it through this Privacy Policy.

This policy explains when and why we collect personal information about you, how we use it, the conditions under which we may disclose it to others, how we keep it safe and secure and your rights and choices in relation to your information.

This Privacy Policy governs your access to and use of German Shepherd Country including any content, functionality, and services offered on or through German Shepherd Country  (the “Website”), whether as a guest or a registered user.

This Privacy Policy applies when you (“you”, “User” or “Consumer”) access, visit or use any portion of the Service. For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, a “User” is a person who creates and distributes a German Shepherd Country social application online (data controller of Consumer data and data subject for your own data, as direct client of German Shepherd Country), and a “Consumer” is a person who registers for access to a German Shepherd Country Social application (data subject of user).

When accessing the Website, the Company will learn certain information about you, both automatically and through voluntary actions, you may take, during your visit. This policy applies to information we collect on the Website and in email, text, or other electronic messages between you and the Website.

By using the Website or by clicking to accept or agree to the Terms of Use when this option is made available to you, you accept and agree to be bound and abide by the Privacy Policy. If you do not want to agree to the Privacy Policy, you must not access or use the Website.

Children under the Age Of 18

Our Website is not intended for children under 18 years of age. No one under age 18 may provide any information to or on the Website. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18. If you are under 18, do not use or provide any information on this Website or on or through any of its features/register on the Website, make any purchases through the Website, use any of the interactive or public comment features of this Website or provide any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, email address, or any screen name or user name you may use.

If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 18 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 18, please contact us at amy@germanshepherdcountry.com

What Type of Information is Collected from You?

When you access the Website, the Company will learn certain information about you during your visit.

Information You Provide To Us. The Website provides various places for users to provide information. We collect information that users provide by filling out forms on the Website, communicating with us via contact forms, responding to surveys, search queries on our search feature, providing comments or other feedback, and providing information when ordering a product or service via the Website.

We use the information you provide to us to deliver the requested product and/or service, to improve our overall performance, and to provide you with offers, promotions, and information.

Information We Collect Through Automatic Data Collection Technology. As you navigate through our Website, we may use automatic data collection technologies including Google Analytics to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns. This will generally include information about your location, your traffic pattern through our website, and any communications between your computer and our Website.  Among other things, we will collect data about the type of computer you use, your Internet connection, your IP address, your operating system, and your browser type.

The information we collect automatically is used for statistical data and will not include personal information. We use this data to improve our Website and our service offerings. To the extent that you voluntarily provide personal information to us, our systems will associate the automatically collected information with your personal information.

“Personal Data” means data that allows someone to identify or contact you, including, for example, your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, as well as any other non-public information about you that is associated with or linked to any of the foregoing data. “Anonymous Data” means data that is not associated with or linked to your Personal Data; Anonymous Data does not, by itself, permit the identification of individual persons. We collect Personal Data and Anonymous Data, as described below.

To see the content on this website you must provide personal data in order to join. This tells us who you are and allows us to give you access to view our website.  Once you give us your Personal Data, you are not anonymous to us. If you choose to provide us with Personal Data, you consent to the transfer and storage of that information on our servers located in the United States.

Personal Data that may be collected:

• Email address, phone number, physical contact information, and sometimes financial information, such as credit card or bank account numbers;
• Transactional information based on your activities on the Website;
• Shipping, billing and other information you provide to purchase an item;
• Community discussions, chats, dispute resolution, correspondence through our Website, and correspondence sent to us;
• Other information from your interaction with our Website, Service, and content, including device ID, computer and connection information, statistics on page views, traffic to and from the sites, IP address and standard web log information;
• Additional information we ask you to submit to authenticate yourself or if we believe you are violating site policies (for example, we may ask you to send us an ID or bill to verify your address or to answer additional questions online to help verify your identity or ownership of an item you list);
• Information from other companies, such as demographic and navigation data;
• If you provide us feedback or contact us via email, we will collect your name and email address, as well as any other content included in the email, in order to send you a reply;
• Other supplemental information from third parties.

 

Use of Cookies and Pixels

Similar to other commercial websites, our website utilizes a standard technology called “cookies” and server logs to collect information about how our site is used. Information gathered through cookies and server logs may include the date and time of visits, the pages viewed, time spent at our site, and the websites visited just before and just after our own, as well as your IP address.

A cookie is a very small text document, which often includes an anonymous unique identifier. When you visit a website, that site’s computer asks your computer for permission to store this file in a part of your hard drive specifically designated for cookies. Each website can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser’s preferences allow it, but (to protect your privacy) your browser only permits a website to access the cookies it has already sent to you, not the cookies sent to you by other sites.

The Company reserves the right to use technological equivalents of cookies, including social media pixels. These pixels allow social media sites to track visitors to outside websites so as to tailor advertising messages users see while visiting that social media website. The Company reserves the right to use these pixels in compliance with the policies of the various social media sites.

Third Party Use of Cookies

Some content or applications, including advertisements, on the Website, are served by third-parties, including advertisers, ad networks and servers, content providers, and application providers. These third parties may use cookies alone or in conjunction with web beacons or other tracking technologies to collect information about you when you use our website. The information they collect may be associated with your personal information or they may collect information, including personal information, about your online activities over time and across different websites and other online services. They may use this information to provide you with interest-based (behavioral) advertising or other targeted content.

We do not control these third parties’ tracking technologies or how they may be used. If you have any questions about an advertisement or other targeted content, contact the responsible provider directly.

Email Information

If you choose to correspond with us through email, we may retain the content of your email messages together with your email address and our responses. We provide the same protections for these electronic communications that we employ in the maintenance of information received online, mail, and telephone. This also applies when you register for our website, sign up through any of our forms using your email address or make a purchase on this site. For further information see the email policies below.

Email Policies

We are committed to keeping your email address confidential. We do not sell, rent, or lease our subscription lists to third parties, and will not disclose your email address to any third parties except as allowed in the section titled Disclosure of Your Information.

We will maintain the information you send via email in accordance with applicable federal law.

In compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act, all emails sent from our organization will clearly state who the email is from and provide clear information on how to contact the sender. In addition, all email messages will also contain concise information on how to remove yourself from our mailing list so that you receive no further email communication from us.

Our emails provide users the opportunity to opt-out of receiving communications from us and our partners by reading the unsubscribe instructions located at the bottom of any email they receive from us at any time.

Users who no longer wish to receive our emails may opt-out of receiving these communications by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the email.

​How and Why We Collect Information

The Company collects your information in order to record and support your participation in the activities you select. If you register to access training or resources, sign up for our newsletter, and/or purchase a product from us, we collect your information. We use this information to track your preferences and to keep you informed about the products and services you have selected to receive and any related products and/or services. As a visitor to this Website, you can engage in most activities without providing any personal information. It is only when you seek to download resources and/or register for services that you are required to provide information.

If you opt to receive any free resources, participate in any free training programs, register for a webinar, register for a live event, register for a seminar, or purchase any products sold by the Company on this Website, we may send you follow-up emails. If you do not wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe anytime. We include an “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of every email we send.

How Do We Use the Information That You Provide to Us?

Our primary purpose in collecting Personal Data is to provide you with a safe, smooth, efficient, and customized experience. You agree that we may use your Personal Data to:

• Facilitate the creation of and secure your account on our network;
• Identify you as a User in the system;
• Send you a welcome email to verify ownership of the email address provided when your account was created;
• Respond to your inquiries related to questions or other requests;
• Provide the Service and customer support you request;
• Resolve disputes, collect fees, and troubleshoot problems;
• Prevent, detect, and investigate potentially prohibited or illegal activities, and enforce our User Agreement;
• Tell you about our Service, service updates, and promotional offers based on your communication preferences;
• Compare information for accuracy, and verify it with third parties;
• And other uses as described when we collect the information.

We use personal information for purposes of presenting our Website and its contents to you, providing you with information, providing you with offers for products and services, providing you with information about your subscriptions and products, carrying out any contract between you and the Company, administering our business activities, providing customer service, and making available other items and services to our customers and prospective customers.

From time-to-time, we may use the information you provide to us to make you offers to purchase products and services provided by third parties in exchange for a commission to be paid to us by such third parties. Should you opt to take part in such promotions, the third parties will receive your information.

From time-to-time, we may use the information you provide to us to display advertisements to you that are tailored to your personal characteristics, interests, and activities.

German Shepherd Country Consumers

As a Consumer, when you request access to applications hosted by German Shepherd Country, we collect, on behalf and upon instructions of German Shepherd Country Users, information relating to you and your use of our services from a variety of sources:

Information We Collect Directly From the Consumer:

We collect and store the application access from Consumers. The German Shepherd Country User is responsible for that data and manages it. The German Shepherd Country User is usually the same person that invited the Consumer to the German Shepherd Country and sometimes they have their own privacy policy.

When requesting access to a German Shepherd Country social application you may provide personal information or data. Please note that German Shepherd Country is not responsible for the content of that application, so if you have any questions about a German Shepherd Country application you are visiting, please contact the German Shepherd Country User directly.

Information We Collect About the Consumer From other Sources on Behalf of German Shepherd Country Users:

• Usage data: on behalf of German Shepherd Country Users, German Shepherd Country collects usage data about Consumers whenever they interact with our services.
• Device and application data: on behalf of German Shepherd Country Users, German Shepherd Country collects data from the device and application the Consumer uses to access our services, such as, among other, the IP address, browser type and operating system. We may also infer the geographic location based on the Consumer IP address.
• Referral data: on behalf of German Shepherd Country Users, German Shepherd Country records information about the source that referred the Consumer to a German Shepherd Country Social application (i.e. a link on a website or in an email).
• Information from cookies and page tags: German Shepherd Country uses third-party tracking services that employ cookies and page tags (also known as web beacons or web bugs) to collect aggregated and anonymized data about visitors to our websites. This data may include usage and User statistics.
• Email address: German Shepherd Country records the email address if the User/Consumer provides it to us in order to send the Consumer a notification email.

German Shepherd Country’s obligations as data processor when processing Consumers’ data on behalf of Users

When German Shepherd Country is processing Consumers’ Data on behalf of Users, the User who creates the application is the Data Controller in relation with the data of Consumers using such application, and German Shepherd Country is the Data Processor of such Consumers data (hereinafter, User shall be referred to as the “Data Controller” and German Shepherd Country as the “Data Processor”).

For the processing of Consumers’ data on behalf of the Data Controller, the Data Processor undertakes to fulfill the following obligations:

• To treat the personal data only to carry out the provision of the contracted Services, in accordance with the instructions given in writing, at any time, by the Data Controller (unless there is a legal rule that requires complementary processing, in such a case, the Data Processor will inform the Data Controller of that legal requirement prior to the processing, unless the Law prohibits it on public interest grounds).
• To maintain the duty of secrecy with respect to the personal data to which the Data Processor has access, even after the termination of the contractual relationship, and to ensure that their employees have committed in writing to maintain the confidentiality of the personal data processed.
• To ensure, taking into account the available technology, the costs of implementation, and the nature, scope, context and purposes of the processing, as well as the risks of varying probability and severity for the rights and freedoms of natural persons, that they will apply adequate technical and organizational measures to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk, including, where appropriate, among other things:
• The pseudonymization and encryption of personal data;
• The ability to ensure the continued confidentiality, integrity, availability and resilience of the systems and services;
• The ability to restore the availability of and access to personal data quickly in the event of a physical or technical incident;
• A process of regular verification, evaluation, and assessment of the effectiveness of the technical and organizational measures in order to ensure the safety of the processing
• When evaluating the adequacy of the security level, special account shall be taken of the risks presented by the data processing, in particular as a consequence of the destruction, loss or accidental or unlawful alteration of the personal data transmitted, stored or otherwise processed, or the communication or unauthorized access to such data;
• To keep under their control and custody the personal data to which they have access in relation with the provision of the Service, and to not disclose them, neither transfer or otherwise communicate them, not even for their preservation, to persons unrelated with the provision of the Service covered by this Agreement.

However, the Data Controller may authorize, expressly and in writing, the Data Processor to use another data processor (hereinafter, the “Subcontractor”), whose identification data (full company name and fiscal identification number) and subcontracted services must be communicated to the Data Controller, prior to the provision of the service, at least with one (1) month in advance. The Data Processor will also inform the Data Controller of any change envisaged in the incorporation or substitution of the Subcontractors, giving thus to the Data Controller the opportunity to object such changes.

In case of making use of the power recognized in the previous paragraph, the Data Processor is obliged to transfer and communicate to the Subcontractor the whole obligations that for the Data Processor derive from this Agreement and, in particular, the provision of enough guarantees that he will apply appropriate technical and organizational measures, so that the processing complies with the applicable regulations.

In any case, access to the data made by natural persons who render their services to the Data Processor, acting within the organizational framework of the latter by virtue of a commercial and non-labor relationship, is authorized. In addition, access to the data is granted to companies and professionals that the Data Processor has hired in their internal organizational framework in order to provide general or maintenance services (computer services, consulting, audits, etc.), as long as such tasks have not been arranged by the Data Processor with the purpose of subcontracting with a third party all or part of the Services provided to the Data Controller.

• To delete or return to the Data Controller, at their choice, all personal data to which they have had access in order to provide the Service. Likewise, the Data Processor undertakes to delete the existing copies, unless there is a legal rule that requires the preservation of the personal data. However, employees and other personnel working for the Data Processor are entitled to access Users and Consumers data as required to carry out their obligations under the terms of their contract.
• To notify the Data Controller, without undue delay, of any personal data security breaches of which he is aware.
• To bring, in writing, a record of all categories of processing activities performed on behalf of the Data Controller.
• To make available to the Data Controller the whole information necessary to demonstrate the fulfillment of the obligations established under this Agreement, as well as to allow and contribute to the performance of audits, including inspections, by the Data Controller or by a third party authorized by them.

If the Data Processor or any of his Subcontractors violates this Agreement or any regulation when determining the purposes and means of the processing, they shall be held responsible for such processing. Furthermore, if such Subcontractors are based in countries which do not have a legislation on data protection which is equivalent to the EU legislation (“Third Countries”), Data Processor shall establish all safeguards required by the EU legislation in order to comply with all obligations arising from transfers of data to Third Countries, and shall promptly inform Data Controller about such safeguards if so requested.

Disclosure of Your Information

As a general rule, we do not sell, rent, lease or otherwise transfer any information collected whether automatically or through your voluntary action.

We may disclose your personal information to our subsidiaries, affiliates, and service providers for the purpose of providing our services to you.

We may disclose your personal information to a third party, including a lawyer or collection agency, when necessary to enforce our terms of service or any other agreement between you and the Company.

We may provide your information to any successor in interest in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of the Company’s assets and/or business.

We may disclose information when legally compelled to do so, in other words, when we, in good faith, believe that the law requires it or for the protection of our legal rights or when compelled by a court or other governmental entity to do so.

How Do We Protect Your Information and Secure Information Transmissions?

We employ commercially reasonable methods to ensure the security of the information you provide to us and the information we collect automatically. This includes using standard security protocols and working only with reputable third-party vendors.

Email is not recognized as a secure medium of communication. For this reason, we request that you do not send private information to us by email. However, doing so is allowed, but at your own risk. Some of the information you may enter on our website may be transmitted securely via a secure medium known as Secure Sockets Layer, or SSL. Credit Card information and other sensitive information is never transmitted via email.

The Company may use software programs to create summary statistics, which are used for such purposes as assessing the number of visitors to the different sections of our site, what information is of most and least interest, determining technical design specifications, and identifying system performance or problem areas.

For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, the Company uses software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage.

Policy Changes

It is our policy to post any changes we make to our privacy policy on this page.

Visitors’ GDPR Rights

If you are within the European Union, you are entitled to certain information and have certain rights under the General Data Protection Regulation. Those rights include:

We will retain any information you choose to provide to us until the earlier of (a) you ask us to delete the information, (b) our decision to cease using our existing data providers, or (c) the Company decides that the value in retaining the data is outweighed by the costs of retaining it.

You have the right to request access to your data that the Company stores and the rights to either rectify or erase your personal data.

You have the right to seek restrictions on the processing of your data.

You have the right to object to the processing of your data and the right to the portability of your data.

To the extent that you provided consent to the Company’s processing of your personal data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing based upon consent that occurred prior to your withdrawal of consent.

You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority that has jurisdiction over issues related to the General Data Protection Regulation.

We require only the information that is reasonably required to enter into a contract with you. We will not require you to provide consent for any unnecessary processing as a condition of entering into a contract with us.

Contact Us

Any questions regarding this policy and our privacy practices should be sent to:

German Shepherd Country

P.O. Box 2335

Fair Oaks, CA 95628

Email Address: amy@germanshepherdcountry.com

 

Effective as of May 25, 2018