Last updated: 27 October 2026
This policy explains what personal information we collect, why we need it, how we look after it and what your rights are. It covers our website and our dog walking service. We're a small, local business, and we only collect what we need to look after your dog and run our walks.
1. Who is responsible for your information
Howfen Solo Paws – Private Dog Walking is a small, independent dog walking business in Westhoughton, Bolton. Under UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018), the “data controller”, meaning the person responsible for deciding how your personal information is used, is the owner of Howfen Solo Paws.
If you have any questions about this policy or your information, you can email us at howfensolopaws@gmail.com or use the enquiry form on our Contact page.
2. The information we collect
When you send an enquiry
Our enquiry form asks for:
- your name, email address and phone number
- your postcode, so we can check you're within our service area
- your dog's name, age and breed
- your preferred walk length, days and times
- any extra information you choose to tell us
The form asks you not to include key safe codes or alarm details. Please never send these through the website.
If you become a customer
To provide walks safely, we'll also ask for:
- your home address, so we can collect and return your dog
- how we'll get into your home, for example key or key safe arrangements
- an emergency contact's name and phone number
- your vet's details
- relevant information about your dog's health, behaviour, routine and needs
- records of the walks we've provided and the payments you've made
If you give us details of an emergency contact, please let them know you've shared their details with us and why.
When you pay online
Online payments are handled by PayPal on its own secure checkout. We never see or store your card details. We only receive what we need to match the payment to your account, such as your name, email address, the amount and the date.
Messages and website visits
We keep messages you send us as part of our records of your enquiry or booking. When you visit our website, our hosting provider may automatically record basic technical information, such as your IP address, browser type and the pages requested, to keep the site working and secure.
3. How we use your information
We use your information to:
- reply to your enquiry
- arrange your free meet and greet
- provide and manage your dog's walks, including collecting and returning your dog
- keep you updated, including a photo or short update after walks
- contact you, your emergency contact or your vet if something goes wrong
- take payments and keep records for our accounts and tax
- keep our website running securely
No marketing, and we never sell your data
We don't send marketing emails, and we never sell, rent or trade your personal information. We don't use automated decision-making or profiling.
4. Our lawful bases
Data protection law says we need a lawful basis for using your information. Ours are:
- Contract: to take steps you've asked for before we agree to walk your dog (such as replying to your enquiry and arranging your meet and greet), and then to provide and take payment for the walks we've agreed.
- Legitimate interests: to run our business sensibly, for example keeping records of enquiries and messages, contacting your emergency contact or vet if something goes wrong, and keeping our website secure. We only rely on this where it doesn't override your own rights and interests.
- Legal obligation: to keep financial records, as tax law requires.
- Consent: where we ask for it, such as before sharing a photo of your dog publicly. You can withdraw your consent at any time.
5. Who we share it with
We only share your information where we need to, and we never sell it. It may be shared with:
- Service providers who help us run the business: our website host (Vercel), the service that forwards enquiry form messages to our inbox (FormSubmit), and our email provider (Google Gmail). They handle your information only to provide those services to us.
- PayPal: PayPal processes online payments as an independent payment provider, and PayPal's own privacy statement applies to the payment information it collects.
- Vets: if your dog needs treatment in an emergency, we'll share what the vet needs to know.
- Your emergency contact: only if something goes wrong and we can't reach you.
- Authorities, where the law requires it: for example HM Revenue & Customs.
6. International transfers
Some of the service providers we use may store or process information outside the UK. Where they do, your information is protected by the safeguards UK law requires, such as the country being covered by UK “adequacy regulations”, or the use of the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the International Data Transfer Addendum to the EU's standard contractual clauses.
7. How long we keep it
We only keep your information for as long as we need it:
- Enquiries that don't go ahead are deleted within 6 months.
- Customer records are kept while you're a customer, and afterwards only for as long as we need them, for example to deal with any questions about our service.
- Payment and financial records, including records of payments made through PayPal, are kept for up to six years for tax purposes.
- Access details: when our arrangement ends, we return your keys and delete any key safe codes or alarm details you've shared with us.
8. Keeping your information safe
We take sensible steps to keep your information safe:
- Key safe codes and alarm details are never put in the website form. We'll agree a safe way to share them at your meet and greet.
- Keys are kept securely and are never labelled with your name or address.
- Online payments are handled by PayPal, so your card details never reach us.
- We only collect and keep the information we actually need.
No way of storing or sending information is completely secure, but we'll always take care with yours and act quickly if anything goes wrong.
9. Your rights
Under UK data protection law, you have the right to:
- access: ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you
- rectification: ask us to correct anything that's wrong or incomplete
- erasure: ask us to delete your information
- restriction: ask us to limit how we use your information
- objection: object to us using your information where we rely on legitimate interests
- data portability: ask for information you've given us in a format you can pass on to someone else
- withdraw consent: where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time
Some of these rights only apply in certain situations. For example, we may need to keep financial records even if you ask us to delete them. To use any of your rights, you can email us at howfensolopaws@gmail.com or use the enquiry form on our Contact page. There's normally no charge, we may ask you to confirm your identity, and we'll reply within one month.
10. Complaints
If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, please tell us first so we can try to put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator:
- Website: ico.org.uk
- Helpline: 0303 123 1113
11. Cookies
Our website doesn't use advertising or analytics cookies. Our Cookie Policy explains more.
12. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time, for example if our services or the law change. The date at the top of this page shows when it was last updated. If we make a significant change to how we use information you've already given us, we'll let you know.