Legal

Privacy policy

What we collect when you use Hey Alex, what we do with it, and how to have it deleted. Plain words, no tracking, nothing sold.

Who we are

Last updated September 24, 2026.

Hey Alex is the app and website of The Canine Mind LLC, the dog training business of Alex, the trainer you talk to in the app. In this policy “we” means The Canine Mind LLC. It covers the Hey Alex apps for iPhone and Android and this website.

Questions about your data go to connect@thecaninemind.org.

What we collect

Only what the app needs to work, and only what you give it:

Your account. When you sign in with Google: your name, email address and profile picture.
Your dogs. What you tell us about them: name, breed, age, photos, and your answers to the profile questions about their behaviour.
Questions you ask Alex’s assistant, and the answers it gives.
Messages to Alex, including any photos and videos you attach.
Calls. When you book or join a video call with Alex: the booking, and — only if you have agreed to it — a recording of the call and a written transcript of it.
Enquiries. If you fill in the training enquiry form: your name, email, phone number and area, and what you tell us about your dog.
Your device. A notification token so we can tell you when Alex replies or joins a call, the app version, and the ordinary server logs any website keeps (such as IP address and time of request), which we use to keep the service running and secure.

We do not use advertising, we do not use analytics or tracking tools, and we do not collect your location, contacts or anything from your phone you have not chosen to send us.

How we use it

To run the service: to show you your dogs, answer your questions, deliver your messages to Alex and his replies to you, run your calls and send you reminders and notifications.
To answer your questions. The assistant answers using training guidance Alex has recorded and approved himself. Your question and your dog’s profile are sent to the AI model that writes the answer (see below).
To improve the advice. If you agree to calls being recorded, Alex may review them, and what he says may become general training guidance shown to other customers after he approves it. What you say is never shown to another customer.
To contact you about your training, your bookings and your account. We do not send marketing from the app.

We never sell your information, and we never share it for advertising.

A small number of service providers process data for us, only to run Hey Alex and only as we instruct them:

Google Cloud and Firebase host the service, the database and your photos, videos and recordings, deliver notifications, and transcribe call recordings.
Anthropic’s Claude, used through Google Cloud, writes the assistant’s answers. It receives your question and your dog’s profile for that purpose.
Google handles sign-in. Apple and Google deliver notifications to your phone.

Video calls run on our own servers; call audio and video do not go to any other company while the call is happening.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect someone’s safety.

How long we keep it

We keep your account, your dogs and your conversations for as long as you have an account, so they are there when you come back. Call recordings are kept until you ask us to delete them or we no longer need them.

Server logs are kept for a limited time and then deleted automatically.

Your choices

Recording is your choice. You are asked before any call is recorded, and you can say no or change your mind.
You can ask us to delete a recording, anything else you have sent us, or your whole account and everything in it, at any time. Email connect@thecaninemind.org from the address you signed in with. We keep a record that the deletion was done, but not the data itself. How deletion works.
You can ask for a copy of what we hold about you, or for it to be corrected, the same way.
You can turn notifications off at any time in your phone’s settings.

Keeping it safe

Everything travels encrypted. Photos, videos and recordings are stored privately and are only ever shown through short-lived links to the people in the conversation. Only Alex and the people who run the service for him can see your messages and recordings.

Children

Hey Alex is for adult dog owners. It is not meant for children, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 13. If you believe a child has given us information, tell us and we will delete it.

Where your data is

Your data is stored in the United States. The AI model that writes the assistant’s answers may process your question in Google Cloud data centres outside the United States.

Changes

If we change what we collect or how we use it, we will update this page and the date at the top, and tell you in the app if the change matters.