Legal
Privacy Policy
Effective Date: January 1, 2025 | Last Updated: September 2026
River Dachs ("we," "us," or "our") operates the website riverdachs.com. We take your privacy seriously. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and what rights you have regarding your personal data.
By using our website or submitting information through our contact forms, you agree to the practices described in this policy.
1. Information We Collect
Information You Provide Directly
When you use our contact or adoption inquiry forms, we collect the information you voluntarily submit, which may include:
- Your name and email address
- Your phone number (if provided)
- Information about your household and lifestyle that you share in your inquiry
- Your message or questions
Information Collected Automatically
When you visit our website, our hosting provider may automatically collect basic technical data including:
- Your IP address
- Browser type and operating system
- Pages visited and time spent on the site
- Referring website (if applicable)
This basic server-log data is collected by our hosting provider whenever any page is requested. It is necessary to deliver and secure the site, and it happens regardless of the analytics choice described below.
Cookies and Your Analytics Choice
This site sets no cookies at all — not for tracking, not for advertising, and not for anything else. There are no third-party ad networks here.
We do use one optional, privacy-friendly analytics tool (Cloudflare Web Analytics) to see which pages visitors find useful. It is cookieless, it does not follow you to other websites, and it does not build a profile of you. It only runs if you choose "Accept" on the banner shown on your first visit. If you choose "Decline", or simply never answer, it is never loaded. The site behaves identically either way.
You can change your mind at any time using the Cookie Settings link in the footer of any page. Withdrawing is as easy as granting.
To remember your choice — and your light/dark theme preference — we store two small values in your browser's local storage on your own device. These are never transmitted to us, are not cookies, and are not used to identify you. Clearing your browser data removes them. Saved form drafts, described next, are kept in the same place and are likewise never transmitted.
Saved Form Drafts
Our forms are long, and losing a half-finished application to a closed tab or an interrupted afternoon is genuinely aggravating. So as you type, your answers are saved on your own device — in the same local storage described above — and offered back to you if you come back to that form later.
A draft never leaves your device. It is not sent to us, not sent to anyone else, and we cannot see it. Nothing reaches us until you press submit — if you never finish a form, we never learn you started it.
When you return to a form with a saved draft, we say so plainly at the top of the page and give you a Discard button that clears it in one click. A draft is deleted automatically the moment a form is submitted successfully, and clearing your browser data removes it too. Drafts live in one browser on one device, so something started on your phone will not appear on your computer.
One deliberate exception: on the purchase contract, your typed signature is never saved. Every other answer on that form comes back for you, but the signature line is left blank on purpose — signing should be a deliberate act, made at the moment you mean it. It also means a part-signed contract never sits waiting in a browser on a shared or borrowed computer. You will need to type your name again before submitting, and that is by design.
2. How We Use Your Information
We use the information you provide solely to:
- Respond to your inquiry about adopting a puppy
- Process and manage adoption applications and deposits
- Communicate updates about litters and availability when you have opted into our waiting list
- Fulfill obligations under adoption contracts
We do not sell your personal information to anyone. We do not share your information with third parties for marketing purposes. We do not add you to any newsletter or mailing list without your explicit consent.
3. How Long We Keep Your Information
We retain contact information and adoption correspondence for up to five years. This allows us to maintain records for adoption contracts, health guarantees, and the long-term relationships we maintain with our adoptive families.
If you would like your information removed from our records at any time, contact us at the address below and we will honor your request within 30 days, subject to any legal obligations that require us to maintain certain records.
4. Data Security
We take reasonable precautions to protect your personal information. Our website uses HTTPS encryption for all data transmitted through contact forms. Form submissions are delivered to us via secure email. We do not store payment information — deposits are processed through secure third-party payment methods and we retain only confirmation records.
No method of electronic transmission or storage is completely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security but we are committed to protecting your information using commercially reasonable standards.
5. Third-Party Services
Our website may use the following third-party services:
- Web Hosting (Cloudflare): Our site is hosted by Cloudflare, which may collect server logs as described above in order to deliver and secure the site.
- Cloudflare Web Analytics: Optional and off by default. Cookieless, aggregate page-view statistics, loaded only if you choose "Accept". See the section on your analytics choice above.
- Form delivery: Information you submit through our forms is transmitted securely and delivered to us by email, and stored so we can respond to your inquiry.
Typography is served from our own site — we do not load fonts from Google or any other third party, so no font provider receives your IP address.
We do not use Facebook Pixel, Google Analytics, or any other behavioral tracking or remarketing tools. Links to our Facebook, Instagram and TikTok pages are ordinary links — those companies receive nothing about you unless you click through.
6. Children's Privacy
Our website is not directed to children under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child under 13 has submitted information to us through our website, please contact us and we will promptly delete it.
7. Your Rights
You have the right to:
- Request access to the personal information we hold about you
- Request correction of inaccurate information
- Request deletion of your personal information (subject to retention obligations)
- Withdraw consent for communications at any time
To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the information below.
8. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this page periodically. Continued use of our website after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
9. Contact Us
For privacy-related questions or requests, please reach out through our Contact page. We respond to all privacy inquiries within 30 days.