PRIVACY POLICY
Last updated: April 26, 2025
This Privacy Policy describes how Whisker Bark LLC ("we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, and discloses your personal information when you visit, use our services, or make a purchase from whiskerbark.com (the "Site") or otherwise communicate with us (collectively, the "Services"). For purposes of this Privacy Policy, "you" and "your" means you as the user of the Services, whether you are a customer, website visitor, or another individual whose information we have collected pursuant to this Privacy Policy.
Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. By using and accessing any of the Services, you agree to the collection, use, and disclosure of your information as described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with this Privacy Policy, please do not use or access any of the Services. If you have questions or concerns, please contact us at contact@whiskerbark.com.
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SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS
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What personal information do we process? When you visit, use, or navigate our Services, we may process personal information depending on how you interact with us, the choices you make, and the products and features you use.
Do we process sensitive personal information? No. We do not process sensitive personal information.
Do we use session recording software? Yes. We use Hotjar, which may record your screen activity (mouse movements, clicks, scrolls) on a random sample basis to help us improve the website experience. Payment fields and passwords are automatically masked and never recorded.
Do we use advertising and analytics tools? Yes. We use Google Ads, Google Analytics, VWO (Visual Website Optimizer), and Shopify Audiences. Each of these tools may collect behavioral data about your visit.
Do we sell your personal information? We do not sell your personal information to data brokers or third parties for payment. However, under certain privacy laws, sharing data with advertising partners (such as Google Ads) in exchange for advertising services may qualify as "selling" or "sharing" under applicable law. We disclose this fully in Section 5 below.
What are your rights? Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or opt out of certain uses of your personal information.
How do you exercise your rights? Contact us at contact@whiskerbark.com or submit a data subject access request.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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1. What Information Do We Collect?
2. How Do We Process Your Information?
3. What Legal Bases Do We Rely On?
4. When and With Whom Do We Share Your Personal Information?
5. Cookies, Tracking Technologies, and Third-Party Tools
6. Session Recordings (Hotjar)
7. A Note on "Selling" and "Sharing" Data
8. How Long Do We Keep Your Information?
9. How Do We Keep Your Information Safe?
10. What Are Your Privacy Rights?
11. Controls for Do-Not-Track Features
12. United States Residents — Specific Privacy Rights
13. European Union, UK, and International Users
14. Canadian Users
15. Do We Make Updates to This Policy?
16. How Can You Contact Us?
17. How Can You Review, Update, or Delete Your Data?
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1. WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?
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Information You Provide Directly to Us
We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide when you register on the Services, place an order, contact us, or participate in activities on the Services. This includes:
- Basic contact details: name, postal address, phone number, email address.
- Order information: name, billing address, shipping address, payment confirmation, email, and phone number.
- Account information: username, password, and security questions.
- Shopping information: items you view, add to your cart, or add to your wishlist.
- Customer support information: the content of communications you send us.
Payment Data. Payment instrument information (card number, security code) is collected and stored by our payment processor, Shopify Payments / Stripe. We do not store your full payment card details. Please review the relevant processor's privacy policy for details.
All personal information you provide must be true, complete, and accurate.
Information Collected Automatically
When you visit our Site, we and our third-party partners automatically collect certain technical and behavioral information. This includes:
- Log and usage data: IP address, browser type, operating system, referring URLs, pages visited, time spent on pages, links clicked, and date/time stamps.
- Device data: device type, device identifiers, hardware model, internet service provider, and system configuration.
- Location data: approximate location derived from your IP address.
- Behavioral data: mouse movements, clicks, scrolls, and on-page interactions (collected via Hotjar session recording on a random sample of visitors — see Section 6).
- Cookie and tracking data: information collected via cookies, pixels, web beacons, and similar technologies placed by us and our third-party partners.
Information We Obtain from Third Parties
We may receive information about you from third parties including:
- Shopify: our e-commerce platform provider.
- Google: when you interact with our advertisements on Google platforms.
- Payment processors: to confirm and process transactions.
- Advertising and analytics partners: when you interact with our ads or content on third-party platforms.
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2. HOW DO WE PROCESS YOUR INFORMATION?
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We process your personal information for the following purposes:
- To provide and manage the Services: processing orders, payments, returns, exchanges, shipping, and account management.
- To communicate with you: responding to inquiries, sending order confirmations, and providing customer support.
- To send marketing communications: sending promotional emails and offers, subject to your preferences. You may opt out at any time.
- To deliver targeted advertising: using behavioral data to show you relevant advertisements on our Site and on third-party platforms including Google.
- To conduct website analytics: understanding how visitors use our Site to improve content, layout, and performance.
- To conduct A/B testing and optimization: using VWO to test different versions of pages or elements and determine what works best for our customers.
- To conduct session analysis: using Hotjar to record a random sample of visitor sessions to identify usability issues and improve the customer experience.
- To protect the Services: fraud detection, security monitoring, and prevention of unauthorized activity.
- To comply with legal obligations: responding to lawful requests, court orders, and regulatory requirements.
- To evaluate and improve our Services: identifying usage trends and measuring the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns.
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3. WHAT LEGAL BASES DO WE RELY ON?
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If you are located in the European Union, United Kingdom, or a jurisdiction that requires a legal basis for processing personal data, we rely on the following:
- Contract: processing necessary to fulfill your order and provide the Services.
- Legitimate interests: analytics, fraud prevention, improving our Services, and direct marketing to existing customers, where these interests are not overridden by your rights.
- Consent: for cookies and tracking technologies that require consent under applicable law (e.g., Hotjar session recordings, Google Ads targeting cookies). You may withdraw consent at any time.
- Legal obligation: processing required to comply with applicable law.
If you are located in Canada, we may process your information with your express or implied consent, or where permitted by law without consent (for example, fraud detection or legal compliance).
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4. WHEN AND WITH WHOM DO WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?
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We may disclose your personal information to the following categories of third parties:
Service Providers. Vendors who perform services on our behalf, including payment processors, fulfillment and shipping partners, customer support tools, cloud storage providers, and IT management providers. These parties are contractually bound to process your data only on our instructions and to maintain appropriate security.
E-Commerce Platform. Shopify Inc., which hosts our store and processes order, account, and payment data. Shopify may use aggregated data across its merchant network for platform improvement purposes. See shopify.com/legal/privacy.
Advertising Partners. Google LLC, for the purpose of delivering and measuring advertising campaigns via Google Ads and Google Analytics. Data shared with Google may be used to serve you personalized advertisements.
Analytics and Optimization Partners. Hotjar Ltd. (session recording and heatmaps) and VWO / Wingify (A/B testing and behavioral analytics).
Shopify Audiences. We use Shopify's ad services to help personalize advertising you see on third-party websites. See Section 5 for opt-out details.
Business Transfers. In connection with a merger, acquisition, sale of assets, or bankruptcy, your personal information may be transferred as part of that transaction.
Legal and Regulatory Disclosures. We may disclose your information to comply with applicable law, respond to subpoenas or court orders, enforce our Terms of Service, or protect our rights and the rights of our users.
We do not share your personal information with third parties for their own independent marketing purposes without your consent.
Categories of personal information disclosed in the past 12 months:
- Identifiers (name, email, IP address): shared with service providers, advertising partners, and analytics providers.
- Commercial information (order history, shopping behavior): shared with service providers and marketing partners.
- Internet or network activity (Usage Data, session recordings, behavioral data): shared with Google, Hotjar, and VWO.
- Geolocation data (approximate, IP-based): shared with analytics providers.
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5. COOKIES, TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES, AND THIRD-PARTY TOOLS
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We use cookies, pixels, web beacons, and similar technologies to collect information and power our Services. Below is a full disclosure of the third-party tools we use, what each collects, and how you can opt out.
SHOPIFY
Purpose: Powers our online store, processes orders and payments, and manages customer accounts.
Data collected: Order data, account data, payment confirmation, browsing activity on our store.
Privacy policy: shopify.com/legal/privacy
Cookie policy: shopify.com/legal/cookies
GOOGLE ANALYTICS
Purpose: Tracks and analyzes how visitors use our Site, including pages visited, session duration, traffic sources, and navigation paths. Used to improve Site content and performance.
Data collected: IP address (anonymized), browser type, device type, pages visited, session behavior, referral source.
Opt-out: Install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. You may also adjust settings at adssettings.google.com.
Privacy policy: policies.google.com/privacy
GOOGLE ADS
Purpose: Delivers targeted advertisements to you on Google's platforms and partner websites. Tracks conversions (e.g., purchases made after clicking an ad) and enables remarketing (showing ads to previous visitors).
Data collected: Browsing behavior, pages visited, items viewed, conversion events, IP address, cookie identifiers.
Legal note: Sharing data with Google Ads for targeted advertising constitutes "sharing" of personal data for cross-context behavioral advertising as defined under applicable US privacy law (including CCPA). In some interpretations, this may also qualify as a "sale." See Section 7 for a full explanation.
Opt-out: Visit adssettings.google.com or optout.networkadvertising.org.
Privacy policy: policies.google.com/privacy
HOTJAR
Purpose: Analyzes how visitors interact with our Site through session recordings, heatmaps, and behavioral analytics. Used to identify usability issues and improve the customer experience. See Section 6 for full details.
Data collected: Mouse movements, clicks, scrolls, page interactions, device and browser information. Payment fields, passwords, and other sensitive inputs are automatically masked.
Opt-out: Visit hotjar.com/legal/compliance/opt-out.
Privacy policy: hotjar.com/legal/policies/privacy
VWO (VISUAL WEBSITE OPTIMIZER)
Purpose: Conducts A/B tests and multivariate experiments to optimize pages and features on our Site. You may be shown a different version of a page or element as part of an ongoing test.
Data collected: Behavioral data including clicks, navigation, scroll depth, and interaction patterns. Sets cookies to maintain test consistency across your session.
Opt-out: Adjust your browser cookie settings or contact us at contact@whiskerbark.com.
Privacy policy: vwo.com/privacy-policy/
SHOPIFY AUDIENCES
Purpose: Uses aggregated customer data across Shopify merchants to build advertising audiences and improve ad targeting on third-party platforms.
Data collected: Purchase history and behavioral data, shared in aggregated or hashed form with advertising platforms.
Opt-out: Visit privacy.shopify.com/en to restrict Shopify merchants from using your data for these services.
Cookie Management
Most browsers accept cookies by default. You can set your browser to remove or reject cookies at any time. Please note that blocking cookies may affect the functionality of our Site and prevent certain features from working correctly. Blocking cookies does not fully prevent data sharing with third-party advertising partners, as some tracking technologies operate independently of cookies.
If you activate the Global Privacy Control (GPC) opt-out signal in your browser, we will treat this as a request to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information for that browser and device, to the extent required by applicable law.
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6. SESSION RECORDINGS (HOTJAR)
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We use Hotjar to conduct session recordings on our Site. A session recording captures your interactions with a page, including mouse movements, clicks, scrolls, and navigation, as they happen in real time. These recordings are used solely to improve the usability and customer experience of our Site.
Important facts about our use of Hotjar session recordings:
- Recordings are conducted on a random sample of visitors, not every visitor.
- Sensitive fields — including payment card numbers, passwords, and personal data fields — are automatically masked by Hotjar and are never visible in recordings.
- Recordings are stored on Hotjar's servers and are accessible only to authorized members of our team.
- You can opt out of Hotjar data collection at any time by visiting hotjar.com/legal/compliance/opt-out.
By continuing to use our Site without opting out, you consent to the possibility that your session may be recorded as described above.
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7. A NOTE ON "SELLING" AND "SHARING" DATA
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We want to be transparent about how we use your data and how it intersects with legal definitions you may have heard of.
We do not sell your personal information in the traditional sense — we do not provide customer lists or personal data to third parties in exchange for direct monetary payment.
However, under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and similar state privacy laws, the definitions of "selling" and "sharing" are broader than their everyday meanings:
- "Sharing" under CCPA specifically includes disclosing personal data to a third party for cross-context behavioral advertising — even if no money changes hands. When we use Google Ads to show you targeted advertisements based on your browsing behavior, personal data (such as pages you visited and items you viewed) is transmitted to Google in exchange for ad targeting capabilities. This qualifies as "sharing" under CCPA.
- "Selling" under CCPA may also apply when personal data is transferred to a third party as part of a broader business exchange of value (such as ad credits or platform access).
Categories of personal information we have "shared" (as defined under applicable law) in the past 12 months for cross-context behavioral advertising:
- Identifiers (IP address, cookie IDs, email hash)
- Internet or network activity (pages visited, items viewed, behavioral data)
- Commercial information (purchase history, shopping behavior)
Recipients: Google LLC (via Google Ads and Shopify Audiences)
You have the right to opt out of this sharing at any time. See Section 12 for instructions.
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8. HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION?
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We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required by law (such as tax, accounting, or legal compliance requirements).
When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will delete or anonymize it. If deletion is not immediately possible (for example, because data has been stored in backup archives), we will securely isolate it from further processing until deletion is possible.
Generally:
- Order and account data: retained for the life of your account plus a reasonable period thereafter for legal and business purposes.
- Session recording data (Hotjar): retained in accordance with Hotjar's data retention policies (typically up to 365 days).
- Analytics data (Google Analytics): retained for 26 months by default.
- Advertising data (Google Ads): retained per Google's data retention policies.
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9. HOW DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION SAFE?
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We implement reasonable technical and organizational security measures to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, loss, misuse, or disclosure. These include access controls, encrypted data transmission (SSL/TLS), and regular review of our security practices.
However, no electronic transmission over the internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. We cannot promise or guarantee that hackers, cybercriminals, or other unauthorized third parties will not be able to defeat our security measures. Transmission of personal information to and from our Services is at your own risk, and you should only access the Services within a secure environment.
If you believe your account has been compromised, please contact us immediately at contact@whiskerbark.com.
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10. WHAT ARE YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS?
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Depending on where you live, you may have some or all of the following rights in relation to your personal information. These rights are not absolute and may be subject to exceptions under applicable law.
Right to Access / Know. You may request access to the personal information we hold about you and how we use and share it.
Right to Delete. You may request that we delete personal information we maintain about you, subject to certain exceptions.
Right to Correct. You may request that we correct inaccurate personal information we hold about you.
Right of Portability. You may request a copy of your personal information in a portable, machine-readable format.
Right to Opt Out of Sale or Sharing. You have the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information for targeted advertising. To exercise this right, email us at contact@whiskerbark.com or activate the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal in your browser.
Right to Opt Out of Session Recording. You may opt out of Hotjar session recording at hotjar.com/legal/compliance/opt-out.
Right to Opt Out of Google Advertising. You may opt out of Google's personalized advertising at adssettings.google.com or install the Google Analytics opt-out add-on at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Right to Limit Use of Sensitive Personal Information. You may direct us to limit our use of sensitive personal information to what is necessary to provide the Services.
Right to Restrict Processing. You may have the right to ask us to stop or restrict our processing of your personal information.
Right to Withdraw Consent. Where we rely on consent to process your personal information, you may withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.
Right to Non-Discrimination. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your privacy rights.
Right to Appeal. If we decline to process your request, you may appeal by replying to our denial. We will provide a written explanation of our decision.
Managing Marketing Communications. You may opt out of promotional emails at any time using the unsubscribe link in any marketing email. We may still send non-promotional emails related to your account or orders.
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at contact@whiskerbark.com. We may need to verify your identity before processing your request.
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11. CONTROLS FOR DO-NOT-TRACK FEATURES
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Most web browsers and some mobile operating systems include a Do-Not-Track (DNT) feature you can activate to signal your preference not to be tracked. At this time, no uniform technology standard for recognizing and implementing DNT signals has been finalized, and we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals.
However, we do honor the Global Privacy Control (GPC) opt-out signal. If your browser has GPC enabled, we will treat it as a request to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information for that browser and device, consistent with applicable law.
California law requires us to disclose how we respond to DNT signals. As stated, we do not currently respond to DNT signals due to the lack of a uniform standard.
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12. UNITED STATES RESIDENTS — SPECIFIC PRIVACY RIGHTS
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If you are a resident of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, or Virginia, you may have specific rights under your state's privacy law in addition to those described in Section 10.
Categories of Personal Information Collected in the Past 12 Months:
A. Identifiers (name, email, IP address, account name) — YES
B. Personal information per California Customer Records statute (name, contact info, financial info) — YES
C. Protected classification characteristics (gender, age, race) — NO
D. Commercial information (purchase history, transaction information) — YES
E. Biometric information — NO
F. Internet or network activity (browsing history, behavioral data, interactions with ads) — YES
G. Geolocation data (approximate, IP-based) — YES
H. Audio, electronic, or visual information — NO
I. Professional or employment-related information — NO
J. Education information — NO
K. Inferences drawn from personal information (interest profiles) — YES (via Google Ads and analytics)
L. Sensitive personal information — NO
Sale and Sharing Disclosure
We have "shared" (as that term is defined under CCPA) personal information in the past 12 months for the purpose of cross-context behavioral advertising. See Section 7 for a full explanation. The categories of personal information shared and the categories of recipients are:
- Identifiers and internet/network activity — shared with Google LLC (Google Ads, Google Analytics) and Shopify (Shopify Audiences).
- Commercial information — shared with Google LLC and Shopify Audiences.
We have not sold personal information to data brokers or third parties in exchange for direct monetary payment.
How to Exercise Your State Privacy Rights
To submit a request to access, delete, correct, or opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information:
- Email us at: contact@whiskerbark.com
- Activate the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal in your browser to automatically opt out of sale/sharing.
We will verify your identity before processing your request. You may designate an authorized agent to submit a request on your behalf, provided the agent submits written authorization from you.
We will respond to verifiable consumer requests within the timeframe required by applicable law. We will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights.
Appeals
If we decline to take action on your request, you may appeal by emailing contact@whiskerbark.com with the subject line "Privacy Rights Appeal." We will respond with a written explanation of our decision. If your appeal is denied, you may submit a complaint to your state attorney general.
California "Shine the Light" Law
Under California Civil Code Section 1798.83, California residents may request, once per year and free of charge, information about the categories of personal information we disclosed to third parties for their direct marketing purposes in the prior calendar year, and the names and addresses of those third parties. To make such a request, contact us at contact@whiskerbark.com.
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13. EUROPEAN UNION, UK, AND INTERNATIONAL USERS
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If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom, or another jurisdiction with data protection laws that apply to your personal information, the following additional information applies.
Legal Bases for Processing
We process your personal information on the following legal bases:
- Performance of a contract: to fulfill your order and provide the Services.
- Legitimate interests: analytics, fraud prevention, marketing to existing customers, and improving our Services, where those interests are not overridden by your rights.
- Consent: for non-essential cookies, session recordings, and behavioral advertising tracking. You may withdraw consent at any time.
- Legal obligation: to comply with applicable law.
Your GDPR Rights
In addition to the rights described in Section 10, you have the right to:
- Lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority (DPA) if you believe we have violated your rights.
- Object to processing carried out on the basis of legitimate interests.
- Not be subject to automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects.
International Data Transfers
We are based in the United States. When you use our Services, your personal information is transferred to and processed in the United States, which may not have the same level of data protection as your home country.
If we transfer personal information from the EEA or UK to a country that has not been deemed adequate by the European Commission or the UK Information Commissioner's Office, we will rely on recognized transfer mechanisms such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) or UK equivalents.
You may contact us for a copy of the safeguards we use for international transfers.
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14. CANADIAN USERS
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If you are located in Canada, we will obtain your express or implied consent before collecting, using, or disclosing your personal information, except where applicable law permits processing without consent. You may withdraw consent at any time by contacting us, subject to legal or contractual restrictions.
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15. DO WE MAKE UPDATES TO THIS POLICY?
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We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our practices, tools, or applicable law. When we do, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. If we make material changes, we may notify you by posting a prominent notice on our Site or by sending you a direct notification.
We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we are protecting your information.
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16. HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US?
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If you have questions or comments about this Privacy Policy, wish to exercise your privacy rights, or have a complaint about how we handle your personal information, please contact us:
Whisker Bark LLC
350 S Miami Ave, Apt 3411
Miami, FL 33130
United States
Email: contact@whiskerbark.com
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17. HOW CAN YOU REVIEW, UPDATE, OR DELETE YOUR DATA?
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Based on applicable law, you may have the right to request access to, correction of, or deletion of the personal information we collect from you. To submit such a request, please email contact@whiskerbark.com with the subject line "Data Request." We will verify your identity and respond in accordance with applicable law.