This Privacy Policy explains how Senior and Geriatric Dogs LLC, a Virginia limited liability company doing business as Senior Dog Veterinary Society (“SDVS,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), collects, uses, shares, and protects personal information when you use:

• seniordogvets.com (our public website, including the blog, free resources, and Certified Vet Directory), and
• seniordogvets.learnworlds.com (our member learning platform, where certification courses, CE content, community features, and your account live).

Together we call these the “Sites.” This policy applies to both. Where the two behave differently, we say so.

If you do not agree with this policy, please do not use the Sites.

1. Who we are and how to reach us

SDVS provides senior and geriatric canine care education, certification, and community for veterinary professionals, along with free educational resources that anyone may access.

Questions, requests, or complaints about privacy can be sent to:

Email: info@seniordogvets.com
Mail: Senior and Geriatric Dogs LLC, PO Box 3022, Alexandria, VA 22302

2. Information we collect

Information you give us directly

Free resource downloads and newsletter sign-ups. When you request a free resource or subscribe to email updates on seniordogvets.com, we collect your first name, last name, email address, and your role in veterinary medicine (for example, veterinarian, technician, practice owner, vet student, pet parent, or other).

Contact forms and email. If you write to us, we keep your name, contact details, and the contents of your message so we can respond.

Member accounts. When you enroll in a membership or certification on seniordogvets.learnworlds.com, we collect your name, email address, password (stored in hashed form by our platform provider, never visible to us), role, practice or organization name, and country, state, or province.

Continuing education records. To issue CE certificates for RACE-approved courses, we collect the information required by the American Association of Veterinary State Boards (AAVSB) and state licensing boards. This may include your professional license number, license type, and licensing jurisdiction. We use this only to issue and report CE credit.

Payment information. Membership fees are processed by third-party payment processors through our learning platform. We do not receive or store your full card number. We receive confirmation of payment, the last four digits of your card, the card brand, billing name, and billing address so we can manage your membership and issue receipts.

Profile and community content. If you complete a member profile, post in community areas, submit questions during live events, or upload content to the learning platform, we collect what you choose to share.

Certified Vet Directory listings. If you are certified and opt in to the public Certified Vet Directory, we collect and publish the listing details you provide, such as your name, credentials, practice name, location, and website. See Section 7.

Surveys, testimonials, and events. If you respond to a survey, give a testimonial, or register for a webinar or virtual event, we collect what you submit.

Information collected automatically

When you visit the Sites, we and our service providers automatically collect:

• Device and browser information (browser type, operating system, screen size, language)
• IP address and approximate location derived from it
• Pages viewed, links clicked, time on page, referring page, and navigation paths
• Course progress, lesson completions, quiz results, video watch time, and login activity on the learning platform
• Cookie identifiers and similar technologies (see Section 6)

Information from third parties

We may receive information from our service providers, such as email delivery status and open or click data from our email platform, and payment status from our payment processors. We do not buy personal information from data brokers.

3. How we use your information

We use personal information to:

• Deliver the free resources, emails, courses, certificates, and services you request
• Create and manage your member account, track course progress, and issue certificates of completion and CE certificates
• Report CE credit to licensing bodies where required or where you request it
• Process payments, manage renewals, send receipts, and prevent fraud
• Publish and maintain your Certified Vet Directory listing, if you opt in
• Send transactional messages about your account, purchases, renewals, course updates, and changes to our terms or policies
• Send marketing emails about SDVS courses, events, resources, and membership, which you can opt out of at any time
• Run live events, webinars, and community features
• Understand how the Sites are used so we can improve content, navigation, and performance
• Respond to your questions and support requests
• Enforce our Terms of Service, protect the security of the Sites, and comply with legal obligations

We do not use your personal information to make automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.

4. Legal bases for processing (EEA, UK, and Switzerland)

If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, we rely on the following legal bases:

• Performance of a contract: to provide memberships, courses, certificates, and account services you have purchased or requested.
• Consent: for marketing emails, non-essential cookies and analytics, and publication in the Certified Vet Directory. You can withdraw consent at any time.
• Legitimate interests: to operate, secure, and improve the Sites, to communicate with you about services you use, and to prevent fraud, where those interests are not overridden by your rights.
• Legal obligation: to keep financial records, respond to lawful requests, and meet CE reporting requirements.

5. How we share information

We share personal information in the following ways. Some of this sharing may be a “sale” or “sharing” under California and other U.S. state privacy laws. See “Advertising partners” below and Section 12 for your right to opt out.

Service providers

We use third-party companies to run the Sites. They process personal information on our behalf, under contract, and only for the purposes we specify. Our current providers include:

• LearnWorlds (learning platform, member accounts, course delivery, community features, and checkout)
• Payment processors used by LearnWorlds (for example, Stripe and PayPal) for membership payments
• ActiveCampaign (email marketing, form handling, and automation)
• SiteGround (web hosting for seniordogvets.com)
• Google (Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager for site analytics)
• Cloudflare (content delivery and security), where used
• Email and productivity tools we use to respond to support requests

Event sponsors, hosts, and marketing partners

Information you provide when registering for an SDVS event, webinar, or similar program will be shared with the event’s sponsors, its host, and our other marketing partners. They may use and share that information in accordance with their own terms and privacy policies, which we do not control. We encourage you to review them.

Advertising partners

We may “sell” or “share” (as those terms are defined under applicable privacy laws, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act) your identifiers (such as your name, email address, postal address, and other unique identifiers), commercial information, or internet or other electronic network activity information to third-party advertising partners. You have the right to direct us not to sell or share your personal information at any time. To opt out, click the Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information link in the footer of our website, turn on Global Privacy Control in your browser, or email us at info@seniordogvets.com. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your privacy rights.

CE reporting and licensing bodies

Where a course carries RACE approval, we may report your completion to the AAVSB RACEtrack system or to a state or provincial licensing board, as required by the program or at your request.

Certified Vet Directory

If you opt in, your listing is public and visible to anyone who visits the directory, including pet parents. See Section 7.

Business transfers

If SDVS is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets, personal information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you by email or a prominent notice on the Sites before your information becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

Legal and safety

We may disclose information when we believe it is reasonably necessary to comply with law, regulation, legal process, or a government request; to enforce our Terms of Service; to detect or prevent fraud, abuse, or security issues; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of SDVS, our members, or others.

With your direction

We share information when you ask us to, for example when you request that a certificate be sent to your employer.

6. Cookies, analytics, and tracking

We use cookies and similar technologies on both Sites.

Essential cookies keep you logged in, remember your preferences, secure the Sites, and let checkout work. These cannot be turned off without breaking the Sites.

Analytics cookies help us understand how visitors use the Sites. seniordogvets.com uses Google Analytics 4, deployed through Google Tag Manager. Google Analytics collects information such as pages visited, time on site, device type, and approximate location. IP addresses are anonymized. Google’s privacy policy is available at policies.google.com/privacy, and you can opt out of Google Analytics across all websites with the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Email tracking. Emails we send through ActiveCampaign may include a small tracking pixel and tracked links that tell us whether an email was opened or clicked. You can disable image loading in your email client to prevent open tracking.

Learning platform cookies. seniordogvets.learnworlds.com sets cookies to manage your session, remember course progress, and support video playback. LearnWorlds’ own cookie and privacy practices are described at learnworlds.com/privacy-policy.

Your choices. Most browsers let you block or delete cookies through their settings. Blocking essential cookies may prevent parts of the Sites from working. Where required by law, we ask for your consent before setting non-essential cookies, and you can change your choice at any time.

Do Not Track. The Sites do not currently respond to browser Do Not Track signals because no common industry standard exists. We treat a Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal as a valid request to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information for that browser and, if we can associate the browser with you, for your account.

7. Certified Vet Directory and the SDVS badge

The Certified Vet Directory is a public listing of veterinary professionals and practices that have completed SDVS certification. Listing is optional and requires your opt-in. If you opt in, the information you provide for your listing (typically name, credentials, practice name, city, state or province, country, and website) is published on seniordogvets.com and may be indexed by search engines and viewed by anyone, including pet parents searching for senior-focused care.

You can update or remove your listing at any time by emailing info@seniordogvets.com. Removal from the directory does not affect your certification. If your certification lapses, we may remove your listing.

Certified members may display the SDVS certification badge on their own websites and materials. The badge links back to seniordogvets.com. When a visitor clicks that link, our Sites collect the same automatically collected information described in Section 2.

8. Marketing communications

If you download a free resource, subscribe to updates, or become a member, we may send you emails about SDVS courses, events, resources, and membership. Every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link. You can also email info@seniordogvets.com to opt out.

Opting out of marketing does not stop transactional emails about your account, purchases, renewals, certificates, or policy changes, which we need to send to provide the services you use.

9. Data retention

We keep personal information for as long as needed for the purposes described in this policy, and then delete or anonymize it. In general:

• Member accounts and course records: for the life of your membership and for 7 years after it ends, so we can verify certifications and respond to licensing board inquiries about CE credit.
• CE certificates and completion records: at least as long as required by AAVSB RACE and applicable state or provincial boards, which is typically a minimum of 4 to 7 years.
• Payment records: as required by tax and accounting law, typically 7 years.
• Marketing contacts: until you unsubscribe or your address becomes inactive.
• Analytics data: Google Analytics user-level data is retained for 14 months.
• Support correspondence: for 3 years after the matter is closed.

10. Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect personal information, including encrypted connections (HTTPS), access controls, and reputable service providers with their own security programs. Payment card data is handled by PCI-compliant processors and never stored on our systems.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. If we learn of a breach that affects your personal information, we will notify you and any regulators as required by law.

11. International transfers

SDVS is based in the United States, and our service providers process data in the United States and other countries. If you access the Sites from the EEA, the UK, Switzerland, Canada, or elsewhere, your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States, where privacy laws may differ from those in your country.

Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards for these transfers, such as the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses, the UK International Data Transfer Addendum, or our providers’ participation in the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework. You can request a copy of the relevant safeguards by contacting us.

12. Your privacy rights

Depending on where you live, you may have some or all of the following rights. To exercise any of them, email info@seniordogvets.com with “Privacy Request” in the subject line. We will verify your identity before acting and respond within the time required by law (generally 30 to 45 days). We will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights.

Everyone

• Unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time
• Update your account details on seniordogvets.learnworlds.com
• Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you
• Ask us to correct or delete your personal information, subject to legal retention requirements (for example, we must keep CE records for the periods described in Section 9)

European Economic Area, United Kingdom, and Switzerland

In addition to the above, you have the right to restrict or object to processing, to data portability, to withdraw consent at any time without affecting prior processing, and to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority. For the UK, that is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk).

Canada

Under PIPEDA and applicable provincial laws, you have the right to access and correct your personal information and to withdraw consent, subject to legal and contractual restrictions. You may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada with concerns.

California

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act as amended by the CPRA, California residents have the right to know what personal information we collect, use, and disclose; to delete it; to correct it; to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information; to limit the use of sensitive personal information; and to non-discrimination.

Sale and sharing. As described in Section 5, we may sell or share identifiers, commercial information, and internet or other electronic network activity information with event sponsors, marketing partners, and third-party advertising partners. Our use of Google Analytics may also be considered “sharing” for cross-context behavioral advertising. To opt out, click the Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information link in the footer of our website, enable Global Privacy Control in your browser, or email us at info@seniordogvets.com with “Do Not Sell or Share” in the subject line. We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of consumers under 16 years of age.

We do not knowingly collect or process sensitive personal information as defined by the CPRA, except professional license numbers, which we use only to issue and report CE credit and not to infer characteristics about you.

The categories of personal information we have collected in the past 12 months are described in Section 2: identifiers, professional information, commercial information (purchase history), internet activity, and inferences about your professional role. The purposes and recipients are described in Sections 3 and 5.

You may designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf. We will require proof of the agent’s authority and may still verify your identity directly.

Other U.S. states

Residents of Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Utah, Texas, Oregon, and other states with comprehensive privacy laws have similar rights to access, correct, delete, and port their data, and to opt out of targeted advertising and sales. Use the contact method above. If we decline a request, you may appeal by replying to our response, and we will explain the outcome of the appeal.

13. Children

The Sites are intended for adults. Certification and membership are for veterinary professionals and students who are 18 or older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

14. Third-party links and content

The Sites link to third-party websites, including published research, partner organizations, sponsors, and podcast platforms. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those sites. Read their policies before providing information.

15. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we will change the “Last updated” date at the top. If the changes are material, we will notify members by email or with a prominent notice on the Sites before they take effect. Continued use of the Sites after the effective date means you accept the updated policy.

16. Contact us

Senior Dog Veterinary Society
Senior and Geriatric Dogs LLC
PO Box 3022, Alexandria, VA 22302
info@seniordogvets.com