Who we are
SitterWorks is software for independent pet-care businesses, like dog trainers, sitters, walkers, and boarding and daycare providers. It is made by Blue Captain LLC, an Oregon company. In this policy, "we" and "us" mean Blue Captain LLC.
This policy covers this website (getsitterworks.com), the SitterWorks app (app.getsitterworks.com), and the booking pages, client portal, and links that SitterWorks sends on behalf of pet-care businesses. SitterWorks is only offered in the United States.
Businesses and their clients
Two kinds of people use SitterWorks, and our role is different for each.
Pet-care businesses
If you run a pet-care business and use SitterWorks, you have an account with us. We decide how your account information is handled, and this policy describes that.
Their clients (pet owners)
If you book with a pet-care business that uses SitterWorks, the business decides what information to keep about you and your pets. We store and process it for the business, following its instructions. The business has its own privacy practices, and you can ask it about them. We never use one business's client records for any other business.
Our founder also runs a pet-care business, Dog Trainer Steve, that uses SitterWorks. It gets the same treatment as every other business. It never sees, uses, or benefits from any other business's clients or data.
What we collect
We collect only what you or the pet-care business give us, plus a small amount of technical information needed to keep the service working and safe.
| What | Examples | Where it comes from | Why we need it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business account details | Your name and email, your business name, address, phone, and time zone, and your team members' names and emails | You, and Google when you sign in | To create your account, sign you in (with Google, or with a one-time sign-in link we email you), and show your business details to your clients |
| Account sign-up | Your name, business name and email when you create an account, and when you agreed to the Terms | You, through the sign-up form in the SitterWorks app | To verify your email and create your account |
| Early access applications | Name, email, business name, location, website, services, team size, how you work today, and your answers to our questions | You, through the form on this site | To review your application and contact you about it |
| Client contact details | Names, emails, phone numbers, mailing addresses, emergency contacts, second contacts, and vet contacts | The pet-care business, or the client through a booking page, the portal, or an update link | So the business can care for pets, reach owners, and handle emergencies |
| Pet records | Name, breed, age, weight, photos, vaccination records, medications, feeding and care notes, behavior notes, and which dogs get along | The pet-care business, or the client | So the business can care for each animal safely |
| Bookings and training | Dates, services, check-in and pickup times, session notes, training plans, and homework | The pet-care business, the client, and calendar feeds the business connects | To schedule and deliver services |
| Invoices and payments | Amounts, tips, how it was paid, and Stripe reference numbers. Never full card numbers | The pet-care business, and Stripe | So the business can bill clients and track what is paid |
| Contracts | The agreement text, the name typed to sign it, and when it was signed | The pet-care business and the client | To keep a record of what was agreed |
| Messages | A record of each email and text sent through SitterWorks, including who it went to and what it said, and whether a client agreed to receive texts | SitterWorks, when a message is sent | To send messages, prove consent to texts, and fix delivery problems |
| Help requests | What you write when you ask us for help, report a problem, or suggest an idea, an optional screenshot, the page you were on, the app version, who sent it, and our reply | You, through the Help page in the app | To answer you, fix problems, and decide what to build next |
| Technical information | IP address, browser type, the address your browser uses for notifications, and signals a bot check on our sign-up form reads from your browser | Your browser | To keep you signed in, block spam and abuse, and send notifications you turned on |
We don't ask for Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers, or bank account numbers, and we don't collect your precise location. When a business connects its Google Calendar or its Rover calendar feed, we read the events on that calendar to show and match bookings. See Google data.
How we use it
We use information only to:
- Run SitterWorks and the features a business turns on
- Send the emails, texts, and notifications that a business or client asks for
- Keep accounts and data secure, and stop spam and abuse
- Answer support questions and fix problems
- Tell business account holders about important changes to the service
- Follow the law
We don't sell personal information. We don't share it with anyone for advertising, and we don't build advertising profiles. We don't use it to train AI models.
AI features
Some SitterWorks features use AI to save a business time. For example, AI can draft a follow-up note to a client from the trainer's session notes. To do this, we send the details that request needs to our AI provider, Anthropic. That can include dog names, owner names, care notes, and training notes.
When something in SitterWorks breaks, we may also send the error details to Anthropic to help work out what went wrong. Those details can include a phone number, an email address, or the text of a message that failed to send.
When you send us a question, a problem report, or an idea from the Help page, we send what you wrote to Anthropic, with names, email addresses and phone numbers removed first, so we can sort it, check whether another business has asked for the same thing, and, for a question, suggest an answer from our help articles. A suggested answer may be sent to you automatically; it is always marked as one, and we confirm or correct it.
Anthropic processes this information only to answer our request. It does not use it to train its models. The business stays in charge: AI drafts are shown to the business to review before anything goes to a client.
Who we share it with
We use a small number of companies to run SitterWorks. Each one gets only what it needs to do its job for us, and is not allowed to use it for anything else.
| Company | What they do for us | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Vercel | Hosts the website and app, stores uploaded files, and checks for bots | Everything the site and app handle, including uploaded photos and vaccine records |
| Neon | Runs our database | All the records in SitterWorks |
| Stripe | Processes card payments for pet-care businesses | Payment amounts, what is being paid for (which may include a dog's name), and the card details the client types into Stripe's own checkout page |
| Sign-in, and calendar sync if a business connects it | Sign-in requests, and booking details added to the business's calendar | |
| Twilio | Sends text messages | Phone numbers and message text |
| Resend | Sends email | Email addresses and message content |
| Anthropic | Powers the AI features | The details a request needs (see AI features) |
| Browser notification services from Google, Apple, and Mozilla | Deliver notifications to business devices | Short notification text, which may include a dog or owner name |
We may also share information:
- With the pet-care business that the information belongs to
- When the law requires it, like a valid court order, or to protect someone's safety
- If Blue Captain LLC or SitterWorks is sold or merged. The new owner would have to keep following this policy, and we would tell business account holders first.
Payment information is also covered by Stripe's privacy policy.
Text messages
SitterWorks sends texts for pet-care businesses, like sign-in links, booking updates, and reminders. A business may text you only if you have agreed to receive texts. How many texts you get depends on your bookings. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to stop texts, or HELP for help.
No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Text messaging opt-in data and consent will not be shared with any third parties. The only exception is Twilio, the company that delivers the texts, and it may not use them for anything else.
Google data
When you sign in with Google, Google tells us your name, your email address, and whether that email is verified. We use them only to sign you in and show your name in the app.
A business can also choose to connect Google Calendar. When it does, SitterWorks can see the business's calendars and events, and can add, change, or remove events so bookings show up on the calendar and busy times are respected. If a booking has a client's email address, Google sends that client a calendar invitation. We keep the calendar connection key encrypted. The business can disconnect at any time in SitterWorks settings or at myaccount.google.com/permissions.
We don't use Google data for advertising, don't sell it, and don't use it to train AI models. SitterWorks' use and transfer of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
How long we keep it
| What | How long |
|---|---|
| Business account and client records | As long as the business has an account, unless the business deletes them sooner |
| After a business cancels | Kept for 90 days so the business can change its mind or download a copy, then deleted, usually within 30 more days |
| Data export files | Deleted 7 days after they are created |
| IP addresses used to block spam | 7 days |
| Records of the emails, texts, and notifications SitterWorks sent | 180 days after sending |
| Error reports (what broke, which can include a phone number, email address, or message text) | 90 days after the problem last happened |
| Conversations with the AI assistant in the app | 30 days after the last message |
| Sign-in, invite, update, and approval links | Deleted once they expire |
| Contract signing links | Erased once they expire. The contract itself is kept with the business's records. |
| Help requests and screenshots | Kept while the request is open, then 12 months after we close it |
| Sign-up requests | 30 days after the sign-up link is used or expires. |
| Early access applications | Until 30 days after we set up your account, or 12 months after we decline it. You can ask us to delete it sooner. |
| Database backups | Our database keeps a short history for disaster recovery. Deleted information ages out of it within 30 days. |
When we delete a business, we keep only its name and the dates it opened and closed its account, so we have a record that the account existed. We may keep other information longer only if the law requires it.
How we protect it
No system is perfectly secure, but we take real steps to protect your information:
- All connections to SitterWorks are encrypted.
- Each business's data is walled off from every other business inside the database itself, not just in the app.
- Sign-in links sent to clients and to business users expire, and most are stored in a scrambled form that can't be turned back into a working link.
- Calendar connection keys are encrypted.
- Business owners choose what each team member is allowed to see and do.
- Card numbers never touch our systems.
Pet photos and vaccination records are stored privately. Only signed-in members of the pet-care business's team who are allowed to see client records can open them.
Our staff (today, that is just our founder) can access SitterWorks to run it, fix problems, and answer support requests. We look at a business's records only when we need to for those reasons, or when the business asks us to.
If a data breach affects your information, we will tell the affected businesses and people as the law requires, and quickly.
Your rights
Some states, including California and Oregon, give people privacy rights by law. We give the same rights to everyone who uses SitterWorks, wherever you live in the United States. You can ask us to:
- Tell you what information we have about you, where it came from, and who we shared it with, including the names of those companies
- Give you a copy of it
- Correct anything that is wrong
- Delete it
- Stop selling or sharing it for advertising. We already don't, but you can still ask.
We will never treat you differently or charge you more for using these rights.
How to ask
Email info@getsitterworks.com. Business account holders can also download a full copy of their business's data in SitterWorks settings. We will confirm the request comes from you, usually by checking it against the email or phone number we have on file. You can have someone ask for you, but we will need your written permission and may still need to confirm who you are.
We will answer within 45 days. If we need more time, we will tell you why and take up to 45 more. If we say no, we will tell you why. You can ask us to look again by replying to our answer, and our founder will review it personally.
If you are a client of a pet-care business
The business controls your records, so it is usually fastest to ask the business directly. If you write to us, we will pass your request to the business and help it respond. A business may need to keep some records, like invoices and signed agreements, for its own legal reasons.
Children
SitterWorks is for adults running businesses and for adult pet owners. It is not meant for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect information from them. If you think a child has given us information, email us and we will delete it.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we will update the date at the top. For important changes, we will email business account holders and show a notice in the app at least 30 days before the change takes effect. We will never use information we already have in a new way without asking first.
Contact us
Questions, requests, or concerns about privacy:
Blue Captain LLCEmail: info@getsitterworks.com
Mail: 5441 S Macadam Ave, Ste R, Portland, OR 97239
See also our terms of service.