Last updated: June 9, 2026.
This Privacy & Data Use Policy explains what information is collected when you visit akivathedog.com (the “Site”), how that information is used and protected, the choices you have, and the disclosures required by the various services and laws that apply to a website like this one. Please read it carefully. By using the Site, you agree to the practices described here.
akivathedog.com is a personal, non-commercial blog about dogs, operated by Jamie Dolan and based in Neenah, Wisconsin, United States. If you have any questions about this policy or your personal information, you can reach me by email at jamiedolan@gmail.com.
Plain-English Summary
I’ve tried to write this policy thoroughly so that it covers everything a modern website is expected to disclose. The short version is simple:
- This is a personal dog blog. I am not in the business of selling, renting, or trading your personal information — and I never will.
- Like nearly every website, the Site uses cookies and analytics (Google Analytics) to understand general traffic and to keep the Site working.
- If you leave a comment, subscribe to email updates, send me a message, or submit a dog photo, you are choosing to give me that information, and I describe below how it is handled.
- The Site may contain affiliate links (including Amazon) and may display or link to third-party content. Those relationships are disclosed below.
- You can contact me at any time to access, correct, or delete information I hold about you.
Who We Are
The Site’s address is https://www.akivathedog.com. It is owned and operated by Jamie Dolan, an individual located in Neenah, Wisconsin, USA. This is a personal blog about dogs — featuring Akiva the Shih Tzu, reader-submitted “Dog of the Day” photos, and stories and information about dog care, training, and life with dogs. For privacy questions, data requests, or any concern about your information, contact: jamiedolan@gmail.com.
Scope of This Policy
This policy applies to information collected through this Site. It does not apply to any third-party website, service, platform, or application that may be linked to or embedded on the Site, even where I have a presence on that platform (for example, social-media profiles or video-hosting services). Those third parties operate under their own privacy policies, and I encourage you to read them.
Information We Collect
Information you choose to provide
- Comments: the name, email address, and website you enter in the comment form, plus the comment text.
- Contact messages and email: your name, email address, and anything you choose to include in the message.
- Email/newsletter subscriptions: the email address (and any name) you provide when you subscribe to updates.
- Photo and content submissions: images, captions, stories, and any details you send for possible publication (for example, “Dog of the Day” submissions).
Information collected automatically
Like virtually all websites, this Site and its hosting provider automatically record certain technical information when you visit, including your IP address, browser type and user-agent string, device and operating-system information, referring/exit pages, the pages you view, and the date and time of your visit. This information is collected through server logs, cookies, and analytics tools, and is used for security, troubleshooting, spam prevention, and understanding general site traffic. Some of this information may, alone or in combination, be considered personal information under applicable law.
Comments
When visitors leave comments on the Site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user-agent string to help spam detection. An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
Media
If you upload images to the Site (for example, with a submission), you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the Site can download and extract any location data from images on the Site.
Contact Forms and Email
If you contact me through a form or by email, your message and contact details are used solely to respond to you and to keep a record of our correspondence. Private messages sent to me are treated as private and respectfully — I do not publish the contents of a personal email or private inquiry, and I do not sell or share your contact details. I keep correspondence only as long as needed to handle your request and for reasonable record-keeping.
Photo and Content Submissions (Permission to Publish)
Some features of this Site invite you to submit material specifically so that it can be published — for example, reader photo features such as “Dog of the Day,” or any submission clearly intended for posting on the Site. By submitting photos, images, video, captions, stories, or other material that is offered for publication, you confirm that you own it or have permission to share it, and you grant Jamie Dolan and the Site a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, and irrevocable license to use, publish, display, reproduce, modify, resize, crop, caption, distribute, and archive that material on this Site and its associated channels, in any media now known or later developed, with credit where practical. This license is irrevocable and continues even if you later stop using the Site. As a courtesy, I will consider reasonable requests to remove a specific submission from public view, but because the license above is perpetual and irrevocable, I am not obligated to remove material once it has been submitted for publication. If you do not want material published under these terms, please do not submit it. Material you send privately (not for publication) is treated as private, as described in the section above.
Email Updates and Newsletters
If you opt in to receive email updates, your email address is stored and used only to send you posts or occasional updates from the Site. Email may be delivered through a reputable third-party email service provider that processes the address on my behalf. Every email includes an unsubscribe link, and you can opt out at any time; I will not continue emailing you after you unsubscribe. I comply with the U.S. CAN-SPAM Act, including honoring opt-out requests promptly and identifying messages accurately.
Cookies
Cookies are small text files placed on your device that help websites function and remember preferences. This Site uses cookies and similar technologies for essential operation, for remembering your choices, and for analytics. You can set your browser to refuse some or all cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being set; however, some parts of the Site may not work properly without them.
If you leave a comment on our Site you may opt in to saving your name, email address, and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year. If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser. When an administrator logs in, several cookies are set to save login information and screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen-options cookies last for a year. If “Remember Me” is selected, the login persists for two weeks. Logging out removes the login cookies. Analytics services described below may also set their own cookies or use similar identifiers.
Embedded Content From Other Websites
Articles on this Site may include embedded content (for example, videos, images, and social-media posts). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor had visited the other website. These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website. For example, embedded YouTube videos are served by Google/YouTube and are subject to Google’s privacy policy.
Analytics (Google Analytics)
This Site uses Google Analytics 4, a web-analytics service provided by Google LLC, to understand how visitors use the Site (for example, which pages are popular and general audience trends). Google Analytics uses cookies and similar identifiers to collect information such as your IP address, device and browser information, and pages visited. This information is processed by Google; Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics is governed by the Google Analytics Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy (https://policies.google.com/privacy). You can opt out of Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on (https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/).
Affiliate Links and Amazon Associates Disclosure
This Site may contain affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. This helps support the Site. I only link to products and services I genuinely find useful or interesting, and an affiliate relationship does not change the price you pay. This disclosure is provided in accordance with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR Part 255 (“Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”).
akivathedog.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.
Third-Party Links, Social Media, and Trademarks
This Site may link to, or be linked to from, third-party websites and social-media platforms, and may include sharing buttons or embedded posts. Following those links takes you to sites I do not control. I am not responsible for the privacy practices or content of any third-party site, and the presence of a link is not an endorsement. Once you leave this Site, this policy no longer applies.
Non-affiliation. This Site and its content are independent and personal. Unless explicitly stated, this Site is not affiliated with, associated with, authorized by, endorsed by, sponsored by, or in any way officially connected with Meta Platforms, Inc. (including Facebook and Instagram), Google LLC, Amazon.com, Inc., YouTube, or any other company referenced on the Site. All product names, logos, brands, and trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are used for identification and reference purposes only.
How We Use Information
Information collected through the Site is used to: operate, maintain, and secure the Site; publish and moderate comments and submissions; respond to messages; send email updates you have requested; understand general traffic and improve content; detect, prevent, and address spam, abuse, fraud, and security issues; and comply with legal obligations. I do not use automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects about you.
Legal Bases for Processing (EEA/UK Visitors)
If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, I process personal information under one or more of the following legal bases: your consent (for example, opting in to comment cookies, email updates, or non-essential cookies); my legitimate interests in operating, securing, and improving a personal blog (balanced against your rights); and compliance with legal obligations. You may withdraw consent at any time, without affecting processing already carried out.
Who We Share Your Data With
I do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. Information may be shared only with the service providers that help operate the Site, and only as needed for them to perform their function, including: web hosting (server infrastructure, security, and logs); Google Analytics (traffic analytics), as described above; an automated spam-detection service, which may check visitor comments; and an email service provider, if you subscribe to email updates. If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email. I may also disclose information if required to do so by law, court order, or valid legal process, or where necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of the Site, its visitors, or others.
How Long We Retain Your Data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue. For users that register on the Site (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Email-subscription data is kept until you unsubscribe; correspondence is kept only as long as reasonably needed.
How We Protect Your Data
The Site is served over HTTPS, and I take reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect information against unauthorized access, loss, or misuse. However, no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure, and I cannot guarantee absolute security. You provide information at your own risk.
What Rights You Have Over Your Data
If you have an account on this Site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes. Depending on where you live, you may also have the right to access, correct, update, or delete your personal information; to object to or restrict certain processing; to data portability; and to withdraw consent. To exercise any of these rights, email jamiedolan@gmail.com and I will respond within the time required by applicable law. I will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights.
Your California Privacy Rights
If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), gives you the right to know what personal information is collected, used, and disclosed; the right to request deletion; the right to correct inaccurate information; and the right to opt out of the “sale” or “sharing” of personal information. I do not sell or share your personal information for monetary value, and I do not knowingly “sell” or “share” personal information as those terms are defined under California law. You may exercise your rights, without discrimination, by contacting jamiedolan@gmail.com. This Site honors recognized opt-out preference signals such as the Global Privacy Control (GPC) where applicable.
International Visitors and Data Transfers
This Site is operated in the United States. If you access the Site from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States and other countries where this Site’s service providers operate, where data-protection laws may differ from those in your country. By using the Site, you consent to such transfer and processing.
Children’s Privacy
This Site is intended for a general audience and is not directed to children under the age of 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in the relevant jurisdiction). I do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided personal information through the Site, please contact jamiedolan@gmail.com and I will delete it. This practice is consistent with the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
Do Not Track and Browser Signals
Some browsers offer a “Do Not Track” (DNT) setting. Because there is no common industry standard for how to interpret DNT signals, this Site does not currently respond to DNT signals in a uniform way. Where required by law, the Site honors recognized opt-out preference signals such as the Global Privacy Control (GPC). Regardless of any signal, I do not sell your personal information.
Changes to This Policy
I may update this Privacy & Data Use Policy from time to time to reflect changes in technology, services, or the law. When I do, I will revise the “Last updated” date at the top of this page. Your continued use of the Site after an update means you accept the revised policy.
Contact
Questions, requests, or concerns about this policy or your personal information? Please email jamiedolan@gmail.com. I’m a real person running a personal blog, and I’ll do my best to help.