DINGOADVENTURES · OVERNIGHT CARE · WALKS
Last updated August 9, 2026 · Effective August 9, 2026
Please read section 23. It requires most disputes to be resolved by individual arbitration rather than in court, and it waives class actions. You can opt out of arbitration within 30 days of first accepting these Terms by emailing dingocare@gmail.com with the subject line “Arbitration Opt-Out”. Opting out costs you nothing and does not affect any other part of your account.
Please also read sections 9, 10 and 12. Dog care carries real and unavoidable risk. Those sections describe risks you accept, information you must give us accurately, and how emergency veterinary decisions and costs are handled.
These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are a binding agreement between you and [[ENTITY]], doing business as Dingo (“Dingo”, “we”, “us”, “our”), a company operating from Santa Barbara, California and serving clients in California and Nevada.
They apply when you use the Dingo website, the Dingo iPhone, Apple Watch or Mac applications, or any related service (together, the “Platform”) — whether you are a pet parent booking care (a “Client”), an independent pet-care professional offering services (a “Guide”), or simply browsing.
By creating an account, booking, accepting a booking, or otherwise using the Platform, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated here by reference. If you do not agree, do not use the Platform.
If you accept these Terms on behalf of a company or other organisation, you represent that you have authority to bind it, and “you” means that organisation.
Dingo is a technology platform and referral service. We help Clients find, book, pay and communicate with independent local pet-care businesses. We are a venue and a set of tools.
Dingo does not provide pet-care services. Dingo does not walk, hike, board, sit, transport, feed, groom, train or supervise any animal.
Every walk, hike, drop-in, overnight and adventure booked through the Platform is performed by a Guide — an independent business that you engage directly. Guides are not employees, agents, partners, joint venturers or representatives of Dingo, and Dingo does not supervise, direct or control how a Guide performs their work. Nothing on the Platform, and no communication from Dingo, creates an employment, agency or partnership relationship between Dingo and a Guide.
We describe this plainly because it determines who is responsible for what. When something goes well on a hike, that is your Guide's work. When something goes wrong on a hike, the primary responsibility likewise sits with the Guide and with the parties to that service contract — not with the platform that introduced you. Section 21 explains the limits of our own liability, and section 22 explains yours.
Screening has limits, and we will not pretend otherwise. Background checks and document verification reduce risk; they do not eliminate it. A check reflects records available at a point in time. We do not guarantee any Guide's conduct, skill, judgement, honesty, punctuality, continuing licensure or continuing insurance, and we make no representation that any Guide is suitable for your particular dog.
You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a binding contract. The Platform is not directed to children and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13.
Everyone who books care or performs work must hold an account. An account is what can hold a payment method, which is what makes in-app payment enforceable and traceable for everyone's protection.
You are responsible for the accuracy of your account information, for keeping your credentials confidential, and for all activity under your account. Tell us immediately at dingocare@gmail.com if you suspect unauthorised use. One person, one account; accounts may not be shared, sold or transferred.
You may delete your account at any time from within the app or by contacting us. Deletion is described in the Privacy Policy, including the records we are required to keep afterwards.
This section states the actual structure of the relationship, and both Clients and Guides should read it.
Each Guide is an independent contractor operating their own business. Specifically, and in fact as well as in contract, every Guide:
Dispatch offers work. Dispatch never assigns it. Where these Terms describe standards — for example the conduct rules in section 17 — they define who may use the Platform, in the way any venue sets rules for its participants. They do not direct the manner or means of a Guide's work.
When you confirm a booking, you enter into a direct service contract with your Guide, at the rate that Guide has set, for the service described. Dingo is not a party to that contract. Dingo's own agreement with you is this one: we provide the Platform.
A booking request is an offer. It becomes binding when a Guide accepts it and you receive confirmation. Availability shown on the Platform is an estimate and is not a guarantee that a specific Guide, time or trail will be available.
New dogs complete a one-on-one evaluation before joining group adventures. This is a safety practice, not a formality, and we do not waive it.
Guides may decline a booking, or end one already in progress, if in their judgement a dog presents a risk to itself, to other animals, or to any person, or if conditions are unsafe. Where a booking is ended early for safety reasons, contact us and we will work with you and the Guide on a fair resolution.
All payments for services are made through the Platform using Stripe. Paying a Guide in cash or off-platform for a booked service is not permitted and is grounds for account termination for either party — it removes the payment record, the receipt and the dispute trail that protect both of you. Cash is acceptable for tips only.
Prices are in US dollars and exclusive of taxes unless stated. You authorise us and our payment processor to charge your payment method for confirmed bookings, applicable fees, taxes, late-cancellation charges under section 8, and any amounts you owe under section 12.
If a charge fails or is reversed, we may suspend bookings until it is resolved. If you believe a charge is wrong, contact us first at dingocare@gmail.com — we would rather fix it directly than have you spend a chargeback on it.
Pack Pass renews automatically until you cancel. You will be charged the then-current price each billing period using the payment method on file. You can cancel at any time, in the app or on the website, in the same place and the same number of steps it took to subscribe — no phone call, no email, no retention conversation you cannot skip. Cancelling stops the next renewal; your benefits continue to the end of the period you have already paid for.
Before you subscribe, we present the renewal terms, the billing frequency, the price and the cancellation method clearly and separately from other terms, and we obtain your express affirmative consent to those terms specifically. We send you a confirmation of them after you subscribe.
Price changes. If the renewal price increases, we will notify you between 7 and 30 business days before the increase takes effect, tell you the new price and the date, and remind you how to cancel. The increase applies only to renewals after that notice.
Free trials and introductory offers. Where offered, we tell you the length of the trial, the price that follows, and the date the first full charge occurs, before you enrol. You may cancel during the trial without charge.
Retention offers. If we show you an alternative to cancelling, a button that immediately completes the cancellation will be displayed at the same time. You never have to decline an offer to finish cancelling.
Unused Pack Pass credits do not carry over beyond the terms stated on the Pack Pass page, and are not redeemable for cash except where required by law.
Free cancellation up to 12 hours before a booking's scheduled start. Cancel in the app or on the website.
Within 12 hours, a cancellation charge may apply, because your Guide has reserved that time and turned down other work for it. If you cancel because of illness, an emergency, or unsafe weather, tell us — we routinely waive the charge and we would rather you keep your dog home than keep an appointment.
No-shows. If a Guide cannot access your dog at the scheduled time — nobody home, no key or code, gate locked, dog not present — the booking may be charged in full. Guides will attempt to reach you first.
If a Guide cancels, you are not charged, and we will help you rebook. If a Guide fails to appear without notice, contact us and we will refund the booking in full.
Refunds are returned to the original payment method. Processing times are set by your bank, not by us.
This is the section that most affects whether a booking goes well, and it is the one where inaccurate information causes real harm to real animals and real people.
You represent and warrant that the information you provide about each dog is accurate, complete and current, and that you will update it promptly when it changes. That includes:
You also confirm you are the dog's legal owner, or are authorised by the owner to book care and to make the decisions described in section 12.
Withholding or misstating a dog's bite or aggression history is the single most serious breach of these Terms, and you accept responsibility for the consequences of doing so, including under section 22. It is also, in most jurisdictions, the fact that determines liability for a bite regardless of what any contract says: California Civil Code §3342 imposes strict liability on dog owners for bites, and Nevada applies common-law rules that turn on what the owner knew. We mention this so it is clear that this is not merely a platform rule.
If we or a Guide reasonably believe a dog's actual behaviour differs materially from what you disclosed, we may end the booking, decline future bookings, and remove the dog from group services.
Dogs are animals. Trails are outdoors. Both are unpredictable, and no amount of care removes that.
You understand and voluntarily accept the inherent risks of pet care and outdoor activity, which include but are not limited to: injury to your dog; injury caused by your dog to people, to other animals or to property; illness, exposure to parasites, ticks, foxtails, toxic plants, contaminated water or infectious disease from contact with other animals; heat, cold and weather exposure; encounters with wildlife; slips, falls and terrain hazards; road and traffic hazards; escape, straying or loss; allergic reaction; aggravation of a pre-existing condition; behavioural stress; and, in rare circumstances, serious injury or death.
These risks exist for any dog in any care arrangement, including your own. They are not evidence of fault, and they are not eliminated by GPS tracking, photographs, screening, or a Guide's experience.
You accept these inherent risks knowingly. This section does not release anyone — Dingo or a Guide — from liability for their own gross negligence, recklessness, willful misconduct, fraud, or violation of law. California law does not permit that, and we are not going to pretend to it. What you are accepting is the risk that remains when everyone involved is careful.
If a service requires entry to your home or property, you grant your Guide permission to enter for the purpose and duration of the booking, and you are responsible for providing safe, lawful and reliable access — a working key, code, lockbox or smart lock.
You confirm that you have the right to grant that access, and that any other occupant, landlord or HOA permission required has been obtained. You are responsible for securing valuables, firearms, medications and hazardous materials, and for disclosing anything on the property that could injure a Guide, including other animals, unsafe stairs or decking, pools, and security systems.
Tell us if your property is monitored by cameras or audio recording devices. Recording a Guide inside your home without disclosure raises legal problems for you, not for us — California is a two-party consent state for confidential communications.
Keys and codes handed to a Guide are held by that Guide, not by Dingo. Dingo does not operate a key-holding service. Change codes when a working relationship ends.
You authorise your Guide, and Dingo, to obtain emergency veterinary care for your dog if the dog appears to be injured, ill or in distress and you cannot be reached promptly. We will try to reach you first, on the numbers in your profile, and to use the veterinarian you have listed.
Keep an emergency contact and a preferred veterinarian current in your profile. If we cannot reach you, the Guide will use their judgement and take the dog to the nearest available veterinary facility.
You are responsible for the cost of veterinary treatment for your own dog, including emergency and after-hours costs, and you agree to reimburse Dingo or the Guide for any such costs advanced on your behalf, within 14 days of an itemised invoice. This applies regardless of cause, and does not prevent you from later recovering those costs from whoever is actually responsible, including a Guide or their insurer.
We say this plainly because the alternative is a delay while somebody works out who pays, and that delay is measured in an animal's life.
These apply in addition to everything above if you offer services through the Platform. Your separate written Independent Contractor Agreement governs where it conflicts with this section.
You keep ownership of everything you upload — photos, dog profiles, messages, reviews (“Your Content”).
You grant Dingo a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, adapt for display, and transmit Your Content for the purpose of operating the Platform — showing your dog's photos to you, delivering messages, generating report cards, and keeping records. This licence exists so the product can function, and it ends when you delete the content, subject to backups and the retention described in the Privacy Policy.
Marketing is separate and opt-in. We will not use photographs of your dog in advertising, on social media, or on our website without your specific, separate permission, which you may withdraw at any time. Silence is not permission.
Photographs taken by a Guide during a booking are provided to you for your personal use, and you may share them freely.
You are responsible for having the rights to what you upload, and for not uploading anything unlawful, infringing, or depicting another person without their consent.
The Platform lets staff and Guides exchange short recorded voice messages as an operational tool — a faster way to ask “are you still at Douglas?” than typing it with a leash in each hand.
During an active booking, and only during an active booking, a Guide's device shares location so you can follow your dog's route in real time. It is one of the reasons people use Dingo, and it is also personal information about a person, so it is bounded deliberately.
You agree not to:
Nothing here prevents a Guide from working elsewhere, keeping private clients, or taking a Client's own directly-arranged business outside the Platform — that freedom is part of section 4 and we are not going to undercut it in the fine print. What is prohibited is routing a booking made on Dingo around Dingo's payment system.
Reviews must reflect a genuine experience. We do not remove a review because it is negative. We may remove one that is unlawful, defamatory, contains personal information, is unrelated to the service, or violates section 17.
We do not alter the substance of reviews and we do not offer to suppress them for payment.
The Platform relies on third parties, each governed by its own terms: Stripe for payments and payouts, Supabase for data hosting, Apple and Google for app distribution, notifications and maps. Dingo does not store full payment card numbers; card data goes directly to Stripe.
Links to third-party sites are provided for convenience. We do not control them and are not responsible for their content, terms or privacy practices.
Except where the law does not allow it, and except for any express warranty we give you in writing, the Platform is provided “as is” and “as available”, and Dingo disclaims all implied warranties, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement.
We do not warrant that the Platform will be uninterrupted, timely, secure or error-free, that GPS or notifications will be accurate or delivered, or that defects will be corrected. We do not warrant the conduct, suitability, quality or safety of any Guide or Client, or the accuracy of information they provide.
Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties, so parts of this section may not apply to you.
Read the carve-out first, because it is the part most agreements bury.
Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes liability for: death or personal injury caused by our own negligence; our own gross negligence, recklessness or willful misconduct; fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; violation of law; or any other liability that cannot lawfully be limited. California Civil Code §1668 makes such limits void, and a California damages cap cannot be applied to willful injury — the courts settled that in 2025. We would rather say so here than have a court say it later about a clause we drafted too greedily.
Subject to that, and to the maximum extent the law allows:
That cap is deliberately measured against what Dingo actually received, because Dingo's revenue from a booking is the platform fee — not the Guide's rate, which passes through in full. It applies to Dingo alone; it is not a cap on what a Guide or their insurer may owe you.
These limits apply even if a limited remedy fails of its essential purpose, and they survive termination. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so parts of this section may not apply to you.
You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Dingo, its officers, directors, employees and agents from any third-party claim, demand, loss, liability, damage, fine, or reasonable legal cost arising out of or relating to your own conduct, specifically:
What this indemnity does not do, on purpose. It does not cover claims caused by Dingo's own negligence, gross negligence, willful misconduct or violation of law. A clause purporting to make you pay for our wrongdoing would be unenforceable in California, and asking for it would put this entire section — and possibly section 23 — at risk of being struck as unconscionable. A narrower indemnity that holds is worth more than a broad one that does not.
We will notify you promptly of any claim, allow you to control the defence with counsel reasonably acceptable to us, and cooperate reasonably. You may not settle a claim in a way that imposes any obligation or admission on Dingo without our written consent.
Most problems are fixable in a phone call. Before starting formal proceedings, send a written notice of dispute to dingocare@gmail.com describing the issue and the resolution you want. Both sides agree to try in good faith to resolve it for 30 days. This step is required, and it runs both ways — we will send you the same notice before bringing a claim against you.
If a dispute is not resolved in those 30 days, it will be settled by binding individual arbitration administered by [[ARB_PROVIDER]] under its consumer rules, before a single arbitrator, in Santa Barbara County, California, or — at your election — in the county where you live, or by telephone or video. Judgement on the award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction. The Federal Arbitration Act governs this section.
Dingo will pay arbitration filing and administrative fees to the extent required by the administrator's consumer rules or applicable law, and in any event will not seek its attorneys' fees from you unless the arbitrator finds your claim frivolous.
Claims must be brought individually, not as a plaintiff or class member in any class, collective, consolidated or representative proceeding, and the arbitrator may not consolidate claims or preside over any form of representative proceeding. If this paragraph is found unenforceable as to a particular claim, that claim — and only that claim — proceeds in court, and the rest of this section 23 remains in force.
You may reject this arbitration agreement entirely. Email dingocare@gmail.com within 30 days of first accepting these Terms, with the subject line “Arbitration Opt-Out”, your name and the email on your account. That is all it takes. Opting out has no effect on your account, your pricing, or anything else in these Terms, and we will not treat you differently for it. If you opt out, disputes go to the courts identified in section 26.
If we materially change this section in future, the change will not apply to any dispute of which we had notice beforehand, and you will have a fresh 30 days to opt out.
You may stop using the Platform and delete your account at any time.
We may suspend or terminate an account, with notice where practical and immediately where safety requires it, if you materially breach these Terms, if there is a credible report of harm to an animal or a person, if required by law, or if a Guide's licence or insurance lapses.
On termination: confirmed bookings may be cancelled; amounts already earned by a Guide remain payable; amounts you owe remain owing; and sections 2, 6, 9, 10, 12, 14, 20, 21, 22, 23, 26 and 27 survive.
If you believe an account action was a mistake, write to us. We will look at it again with fresh eyes.
We may update these Terms. For material changes we will give at least 30 days' notice by email and in-app before they take effect, and we will update the “Last updated” date above.
Changes are not retroactive. Continuing to use the Platform after the effective date means you accept the new Terms; if you do not, stop using the Platform and close your account, and we will not apply the new Terms to what came before.
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules, and by the Federal Arbitration Act as to section 23.
For any dispute not subject to arbitration, the state and federal courts located in Santa Barbara County, California have exclusive jurisdiction, and both parties consent to that venue — except that if you are a Nevada resident, you may instead bring an individual claim in the courts of the Nevada county where you live, and nothing here waives any non-waivable protection of the law of the state where you reside.
The registered party to this agreement is [[ENTITY]].
Severability. If any provision is held unenforceable, it is modified to the minimum extent needed to make it enforceable, or severed if it cannot be — and the rest of these Terms remain in full force. The parties intend each provision to be independently enforceable, so that the failure of one does not carry the others with it.
No waiver. Not enforcing a provision once is not a waiver of it.
Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our written consent. We may assign them to an affiliate or in connection with a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, on notice to you.
Force majeure. Neither party is liable for delay or failure caused by events beyond reasonable control — including fire, flood, earthquake, wildfire, extreme heat, storm, epidemic, public-health order, utility or network failure, or government action. Wildfire and heat closures are ordinary facts of a Santa Barbara trail season; bookings affected by them are cancelled without charge.
Notices. We may notify you by email, in-app message or push notification. You may notify us at dingocare@gmail.com or by mail to [[ADDRESS]].
Entire agreement. These Terms, the Privacy Policy, and — for Guides — the Independent Contractor Agreement, are the entire agreement between us on this subject, and supersede earlier discussions. Where the Independent Contractor Agreement conflicts with these Terms on a matter it covers, it governs.
Relationship. Nothing in these Terms creates an employment, agency, partnership, joint venture or franchise relationship between Dingo and any Guide or Client.
Interpretation. Headings are for convenience. “Including” means “including without limitation”. These Terms will not be construed against the drafter merely by reason of authorship.
If you use the Dingo iOS, watchOS or macOS app: this agreement is between you and Dingo, not with Apple, and Apple is not responsible for the app or its content. Apple has no obligation to provide maintenance or support. If the app fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple and Apple will refund the purchase price, if any; to the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation. Apple is not responsible for product liability claims, consumer protection claims, or third-party intellectual-property claims relating to the app. You confirm you are not located in a country subject to a US Government embargo and are not on any US Government prohibited-parties list. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms and may enforce them against you. Equivalent terms apply to Google where the app is distributed through Google Play.
Email dingocare@gmail.com · Phone (424) 558-4842 · Mail [[ADDRESS]]
Under California Civil Code §1789.3, California users may also contact the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs in writing at 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N 112, Sacramento, CA 95834, or by telephone at (800) 952-5210.
Dingo — Dog Adventures, Overnight Care & Walking Services · Santa Barbara, CA · Operating in California and Nevada.