HeelYeah (“HeelYeah,” “we,” “our,” or “us”), a company established in the Netherlands, provides software that helps professional dog trainers and dog-training businesses run their operations: scheduling, client and animal records, messaging, billing, group classes, board-and-train programs, and related features (the “Service”). This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have.
1. Two different roles, please read this first
HeelYeah! serves two kinds of people, and our responsibilities differ for each:
- Trainers and businesses (our customers). When you sign up for and use HeelYeah! to run your business, we collect and use your information as a “controller”. That is, we decide how it’s handled, and this Policy governs that use.
- Clients and the animals of those businesses. Trainers use HeelYeah! to store information about their own clients and animals (contact details, notes, photos, consent forms, and so on). For that information, the trainer or business is the controller and HeelYeah! acts as a “processor”/“service provider” that handles the data on their behalf and under their instructions. If you are a client of a trainer who uses HeelYeah! and you want to access, correct, or delete your information, please contact that trainer directly. They control that data, and we will help them respond.
2. Information we collect
Account and identity information
When a trainer or team member creates an account we collect name, email address, and (optionally) phone number, business name, time zone, and role. Authentication is handled through Amazon Cognito; sign-in typically uses an emailed magic link rather than a stored password.
Information about clients and animals (entered by trainers)
Trainers may enter client contact details (name, email, phone, mailing address), animal details (name, species, breed, age, weight, photos), training goals, behavioral and care notes, session notes, and similar records. Some of these notes can be sensitive. HeelYeah! stores this on the trainer’s behalf.
Payment and billing information
Paid plans and invoices are processed by Stripe. We do not collect or store full payment card numbers. Stripe handles card data directly. We retain billing records such as Stripe customer and subscription identifiers, invoice amounts, dates, and status.
Content and media you upload
Photos, videos, documents, and other files (for example session media, resources, and program logs) are stored in Amazon S3 and delivered through Amazon CloudFront using access-restricted (signed) URLs and cookies.
Consent forms
When a client signs a consent or waiver form in HeelYeah, the signed PDF records the signer’s typed name, the date and time, the form version, and the signer’s IP address, so the trainer has a verifiable audit trail. These records are stored on the trainer’s behalf.
Usage, device, and analytics information
We use Google Analytics to understand how the Service and our website are used. This may include pages viewed, actions taken, approximate location derived from IP address, and device and browser information. In the trainer portal we associate analytics with a non-identifying account identifier and your role/business identifier for product analytics, and we do not send your name or email to Google Analytics.
Communications
We send transactional emails (such as sign-in links, reminders, follow-ups, and notifications) through Amazon SES, and we keep records of support communications you send us.
Text messages (SMS)
Where a trainer has enabled SMS for their business, HeelYeah! can also deliver notifications by text message through our SMS provider, Sinch. We only send text messages to a mobile number after the person that number belongs to has turned SMS on for their own account, which is done either by ticking the SMS box when you accept your invitation, or by adding and verifying a mobile number in your profile and notification settings. Turning SMS on is optional; the Service works without it, and notifications continue by email.
The one exception is account setup. If you provide a mobile number while creating your account or accepting an invitation, we may send you the messages needed to get you into your account, such as a verification code or an invitation link. Apart from those setup messages, we do not text you until SMS notifications are on for your account.
Message frequency depends on your own activity and settings, for example session reminders, schedule changes, and messages from your trainer. Message and data rates may apply, depending on your mobile plan. We do not send marketing or promotional text messages, and we do not share mobile numbers or SMS consent with third parties for their own marketing.
You can stop our text messages at any time by replying STOP to any message we send you. We will send one final message confirming it, and nothing after that. You can also switch SMS off in your notification settings, remove your mobile number from your profile, or contact us at hello@heelyeah.com. Replying HELP to any message returns our contact details. If you change your mind, reply START to resume. Turning SMS off does not affect email notifications or your ability to use the Service.
Calendar integration
You can optionally connect your Google Calendar so your scheduled sessions appear there. If you do, we request the narrowest permission Google offers for this, which lets HeelYeah! manage only the calendar it creates for you and gives us no access to your existing calendars or their contents. We write the session title, date, time, and time zone to that calendar, plus the session location where you are entitled to see it. We do not send session notes, animal health details, or client contact information to Google. You can disconnect at any time in your integration settings, which revokes our access to your Google account.
3. How we use information
We use information to: provide, operate, and maintain the Service; authenticate users and keep accounts secure; process payments and manage subscriptions; send transactional and service notifications you’ve enabled; provide AI-assisted features (see below); detect, prevent, and investigate fraud, abuse, and security incidents; provide customer support; analyze and improve the Service; and comply with legal obligations.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for third-party advertising.
4. AI-assisted features
HeelYeah! offers optional AI features that summarize and assess training progress, for example generating behavioral assessments from session notes or nightly board-and-train summaries. To do this, the relevant text (such as session notes and animal logs) is processed by Amazon Bedrock using Anthropic’s Claude models. This processing runs within AWS; under AWS Bedrock’s terms, your content is not used to train the underlying foundation models. AI output can be inaccurate or incomplete and is not a substitute for professional judgment. Trainers control whether AI processing is enabled for their account.
5. How we share information; service providers
We share information with trusted service providers who process it on our behalf to run the Service, including:
- Amazon Web Services (AWS): cloud hosting and infrastructure: Cognito (authentication), DynamoDB (database), S3 (file storage), CloudFront (content delivery), SES (email), and Bedrock (AI processing). Data is hosted in the United States.
- Stripe: payment processing and billing.
- Sinch: delivery of text-message (SMS) notifications and phone-number verification codes, where SMS is enabled.
- Resend: delivery of certain emails, including trainer-directory outreach and newsletters.
- Google: Analytics for website and product usage analytics, and Google Calendar for the optional calendar integration described above (only where you connect it).
- OpenStreetMap: converting business addresses into map coordinates, and serving the map tiles shown in our trainer directory. Your browser contacts OpenStreetMap directly to load those tiles.
- Cloudflare: Turnstile bot and abuse protection on certain forms.
- Sentry: application error monitoring, where enabled (configured to avoid collecting personal content).
Not every provider listed above is based in the United States, and several run global networks, so certain limited information may be processed outside the United States. See “International users” below.
We may also disclose information to comply with the law or valid legal requests; to protect the rights, safety, and property of HeelYeah, our users, or others; and in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets, in which case we will continue to protect it consistent with this Policy.
6. Cookies and similar technologies
We use browser storage and cookies to keep you signed in (authentication tokens are kept in your browser’s local storage), to run analytics (Google Analytics cookies), and to protect forms from abuse (Cloudflare Turnstile). You can control cookies through your browser settings and can opt out of Google Analytics using Google’s opt-out browser add-on. Blocking some technologies may affect how the Service works.
Some pages also load resources from third-party content delivery networks, including Google Fonts, unpkg, TinyMCE (our rich-text editor), and OpenStreetMap map tiles. Loading these means your browser contacts those providers directly, and they receive your IP address and basic request information. We do not use them to track you across websites.
7. Data retention
We keep personal information for as long as an account is active and as needed to provide the Service, and afterwards as required to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. Information that a trainer enters about clients and animals is retained according to that trainer’s use and instructions. When you close an account, we delete or de-identify information within a reasonable period unless we are required to keep it.
8. Security
We use technical and organizational measures to protect information, including encryption in transit (TLS) and at rest, access controls, and tenant isolation that separates each business’s data. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.
9. Your choices and rights
Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or port your personal information, and to object to or restrict certain processing. Trainers and team members can update much of their information directly in the app or by contacting us. If you are a client of a trainer, contact that trainer to exercise these rights, since they control your data; we will assist them. You can manage notification preferences in your account settings, including which notifications you receive by email and by text message. You can withdraw your consent to text messages at any time by turning SMS off in those settings or by removing your mobile number from your profile.
10. Your rights under the GDPR
Because HeelYeah is established in the Netherlands, the GDPR applies to our handling of personal information. Subject to its conditions, you have the right to access your personal information, to have it corrected or erased, to restrict or object to how we process it, and to receive it in a portable form. Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time without affecting processing already carried out.
We process personal information on these legal bases: to perform our contract with you (providing the Service, your account, scheduling, billing); our legitimate interests in operating, securing, and improving the Service and preventing abuse; your consent, where we ask for it (for example text-message notifications and the optional calendar integration); and to comply with legal obligations.
If you are a client of a trainer, that trainer is the controller of your information and you should contact them first — we act as their processor and will help them respond.
To exercise a right, contact us using the details below. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection authority, including the Dutch supervisory authority, the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl), or the authority where you live.
11. U.S. state privacy rights
If you are a California resident, you have rights under the CCPA/CPRA, including the right to know, access, delete, and correct personal information, and the right not to be discriminated against for exercising these rights. We do not sell or “share” personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. Residents of other U.S. states with comprehensive privacy laws may have similar rights. To make a request, contact us using the details below.
12. International users
HeelYeah is established in the Netherlands, so European data protection law (the GDPR) governs our handling of personal information. Your account, client, animal, and media records are stored on Amazon Web Services in the United States. That means personal information is transferred out of the European Economic Area to be hosted, and some of our other providers process limited information elsewhere again.
Where personal information leaves the EEA, we work with providers that make appropriate transfer safeguards available, such as the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses, and we require providers to protect it consistent with this Policy. You can ask us for more detail about the safeguards that apply using the contact details below.
Some of the service providers listed above operate globally, so limited information may be processed outside the United States. For example: address lookups and map tiles for our trainer directory are served by OpenStreetMap infrastructure operated in Europe; text messages are routed through our SMS provider and the mobile carriers serving the recipient’s number, which may be outside the United States; and content delivery, font hosting, bot protection, and error monitoring are typically handled at the network location nearest you. Where information is processed outside the United States, we require our providers to protect it consistent with this Policy.
13. Children’s privacy
The Service is intended for businesses and is not directed to children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we will delete it.
14. Changes to this Policy
We may update this Policy from time to time. We will post the updated version here and revise the “Effective” date above, and for material changes we will provide additional notice where appropriate.
15. Contact us
Questions or requests about this Policy or your information:
HeelYeah
Arduinastraat 6
1363 XX, Almere
Netherlands
Email: hello@heelyeah.com