1.Who we are
GoPaw is operated by Selm Mobile Application Inc. ("GoPaw", "we", "us"), a company incorporated in British Columbia. GoPaw operates an on-demand pet-care marketplace — connecting pet owners with independent local providers for dog walking, grooming, nail trims, training, hourly pet care, kennel stays and vet transport — through the GoPaw mobile app and the website at gopaw.app.
GoPaw serves customers and providers across Canada, and handles personal information in accordance with Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and the applicable provincial privacy legislation of the province you are in.
Privacy contact: [email protected]
2.What we collect
Account information
- Name and email address when you create an account — via email and password, Sign in with Apple, or Sign in with Google. Apple and Google share only the identity details you approve; we receive a verified identity token, not your Apple or Google password.
- Phone number if you use our SMS-style sign-in.
- Passwords are never stored in plain text — they are hashed on our server using the scrypt algorithm.
Pet profiles
- Your pet's name, species, breed, weight and care details you enter.
- Behaviour and safety information you provide when creating a pet profile: bite history, reaction to strangers and other animals, resource guarding, muzzle training, spay/neuter status, rabies vaccination date, and any municipal aggressive- or dangerous-dog designation. For walking we also ask about escape risk, leash equipment and recall; for grooming, about handling sensitivities.
- Why we require this: the person who arrives at your door is relying on it for their physical safety. A provider is shown the relevant flags before they accept a booking, and may decline. Nothing here is optional, and “unsure” is an accepted answer.
- Your confirmation of accuracy — the date, time, IP address and the exact wording you agreed to when you confirmed the information is correct. Changing a behaviour answer asks you to confirm again, because the previous confirmation covered the previous answer.
- Who sees it: only the provider assigned to, or being offered, a booking for that pet — and only for that pet. It is never shown to other customers or used for advertising.
- Pet photos stay on your device. Photos you add (from camera or photo library) are stored locally in the app and are not uploaded to our servers.
Location
- Approximate/precise location while you use the app, to centre your map, match you with nearby providers and vet clinics, and set service addresses.
- Live GPS tracking during an active service (e.g. a walk) so you can follow the visit in real time. Tracking runs only while the service is in progress.
- Provider location logs are retained for 150 days after a service, then automatically deleted from our systems. This window exists so that if a payment is disputed — a cardholder may do so months later — we can still show the service was delivered. It is not used for any other purpose.
Bookings and chat
- Booking details: service type, address, schedule, price, and status history.
- In-app chat messages between you and your provider for an active booking. Chat history for a booking is kept so both parties can reference it.
Incidents and safety reports
- If something goes wrong during a service, either side can file a report. We record what happened, when, who was involved, whether medical or veterinary attention was sought, and any photos attached.
- For bites: who was bitten, where on the body, whether medical attention was sought, the animal's rabies vaccination status, and whether animal control was contacted.
- A bite to a person updates the pet's profile automatically. The declared bite history changes to reflect what happened, and future bookings for that pet are restricted to providers who have opted into that work. This happens whether or not the owner agrees, because the next provider is relying on the record being true.
- We do not report on your behalf. Where a bite occurs we show both parties a notice that bites should be reported to local animal control and that medical attention should be sought — and we record that the notice was shown. Making the report is yours to do.
Ratings and declines
- After a completed service both sides rate each other. Neither rating is visible to anyone until both have been submitted or the window closes.
- A provider's rating is shown publicly. An owner's rating is shown only to providers being offered that owner's booking.
- Declines are recorded but never scored. A provider may refuse any job, before accepting or on arrival, without reason. We keep the record for safety analysis only — it does not affect their ranking, the jobs they are offered, or anything a customer sees.
The booking assistant
- There is one assistant, and it fills in a booking form. It does not answer questions, it does not give advice of any kind, and it does not choose or recommend a provider. It cannot make, change, confirm or cancel a booking — every booking goes through a confirmation screen and needs your own tap.
- It is powered by OpenAI. What you type or say to it, and what it replies, is sent to OpenAI so it can work out which fields to fill.
- It is given your first name and your pets' names and species. It is not given their behaviour or health information, not given anything at all about any provider, and not given your phone number, email, SIN or payment details.
- Voice input is transcribed on your device using on-device speech recognition. Only the resulting text transcript — not your audio — is sent for processing.
- It will not answer a medical question, or a question about an animal's behaviour or safety. It is not a veterinarian and will say so and point you to one. If what you say sounds urgent, it stops and directs you to an emergency animal hospital.
- We keep what you type or say to it, together with the booking it relates to. We do not use it for marketing, for profiling, or to train any model. Please don't share sensitive personal details in it.
Provider verification documents
- For providers only: identity and background check results, SIN (stored encrypted, for CRA reporting), insurance declarations pages, and any municipal licences or permits.
- Documents may be read by AI to extract the issuer, expiry date and the name on the document, and to flag where those disagree with what was entered. The AI never approves anything — a named person at GoPaw makes every verification decision, and that decision is recorded with their name and the date.
- Verification records are reviewed automatically every six hours so expiring cover is caught before it lapses.
Technical data
- Basic server logs (IP address, timestamps, requested pages) for security and debugging.
- Access to the app is currently protected by an invite/password gate; we store a browser cookie (
gopaw_gate, 24 hours) when you use an invite link.
3.How we use your information
- Create and secure your account, and keep you signed in.
- Match you with nearby providers, dispatch bookings, and show live tracking.
- Operate in-app chat between you and your provider.
- Send password-reset emails when you request them (transactional only — no marketing emails are sent without consent).
- Fill in a booking form from what you type or say to the booking assistant.
- Verify provider identity and documents (identity verification, background checks, insurance).
- Prevent fraud, enforce our terms, and keep the platform safe.
We do not sell your personal data. We do not run third-party advertising, and we do not share your information with data brokers. There is no cross-app tracking.
4.Third-party services and links
- Apple and Google — sign-in providers; their handling of your data is governed by their own privacy policies.
- OpenAI — processes AI assistant text and uploaded verification documents to generate responses and extract document fields.
- Google Maps — map rendering and routing in the app.
- Stripe — payment processing and provider payouts. Card details are handled by Stripe and never touch GoPaw's servers.
- Certn — identity verification and background checks for providers.
- Pet insurance information — where the app lists insurance options for pet owners, these are informational listings. GoPaw does not sell, arrange or recommend insurance, and does not receive a referral fee or commission from any insurer. If you follow a link you leave GoPaw and the insurer's own privacy policy applies; we share nothing with them.
- Vet clinics — clinic listings include booking links to the clinics' own websites. Anything you share with a clinic is between you and that clinic.
Where this data is processed. GoPaw's servers, database and uploaded documents are located in Toronto, Ontario, and our own copies are not replicated outside Canada. Some of the providers listed above process data outside Canada, including in the United States, where it may be subject to the laws of that country — this includes verification documents sent to OpenAI for field extraction, and payment data handled by Stripe. Canadian data residency is not itself required by PIPEDA or by British Columbia's PIPA: both permit transfer abroad with notice, and this is that notice.
5.Storage, security and retention
- Your account and booking data is stored on our servers, protected with encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS) and hashed credentials.
- Pet photos and app preferences are stored on your device and are removed if you delete the app's data.
Retention schedule
We publish this because a retention promise nobody implements is not a promise. Each of these is enforced automatically by the system, not by someone remembering.
| What | How long | Why that long |
|---|---|---|
| Account and booking records | While your account is active | To run the service and show you your history |
| Provider GPS logs during a service | 150 days, then deleted | A card payment can be disputed months later; this is the window in which we may need to show the service happened |
| Behaviour flags added by an incident | 24 months from the incident | Long enough to protect the next provider, not indefinite |
| Incident records | 6 years | Matches CRA record-keeping and the limitation period for a claim |
| Incident photos | 12 months, unless a dispute or claim is open | The photo matters while the matter is live; after that the written record is enough |
| Tax records (CRA Part XX) | 6 years | Required by the Income Tax Act |
| Server logs | Rotated and pruned regularly | Security and debugging only |
6.Your rights (PIPEDA)
Under PIPEDA you have the right to:
- Access the personal information we hold about you.
- Correct inaccurate or incomplete information (you can edit most details right in the app).
- Delete your account — use Delete Account in the app (Profile → Settings), or email us. That removes your profile, your pets, your addresses and your payment details. It does not remove your bookings or your conversations with the booking assistant: we may need those to answer a legal claim, including one made years later, or one made by someone else about a booking you were part of, and we cannot delete them and still be able to do that. They are kept secure, are never used for marketing, and are not shared except where the law requires it.
- Withdraw consent to optional permissions (location, camera, photos, microphone, speech) at any time in your device settings — the app keeps working with reduced features.
- Complain to us first, and if unresolved, to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia, or to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
To exercise any right, contact [email protected]. We respond within 30 days.
7.Children
GoPaw is a service for booking pet care and is intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we will delete it.
8.Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as features ship (for example, when payments, push notifications or background tracking launch). The "Last updated" date above always shows the current version, and material changes will be announced in the app or on this page.
9.Contact
Questions, requests, or concerns about privacy:
Legal entity: Selm Mobile Application Inc.
Email: [email protected]
Location: British Columbia, Canada
The fastest way to reach the team is by email — we read everything.