Terms of Use

For the avoidance of doubt, in these terms the following expressions have the meanings set out beside them:

• "The platform" or "DogMatch" - the website at dog-match.io, the Android and iOS apps, and any related service, page or content.
• "The operator", "we" or "us" - the operator of the platform, including its owners, directors, employees, service providers and anyone acting on its behalf.
• "User" - any person or entity using the platform, whether registered or not.
• "Dog owner" - a user looking for a service for their dog or for a dog in their care.
• "Provider" - a trainer, boarding kennel, home host, dog sitter, dog walker, therapy dog handler, grooming salon, business or any other party presenting its services on the platform.
• "The service" - any service supplied by a provider to a dog owner, whether or not the contact between them was made through the platform.
• "User content" - any text, image, review, rating, profile detail, price list or other information a user has uploaded to the platform.

These terms are written in one grammatical gender for convenience only and apply equally to all genders. The singular includes the plural and vice versa.

Use of the platform is permitted to persons aged 18 or over who have the legal capacity to enter into a binding contract. A user acting on behalf of an entity represents that they are authorised to bind it.

If a minor uses the platform contrary to the above, full responsibility for that use, including for any engagement created, rests with their parents or guardian.

The privacy policy set out in these terms forms an integral part of them, and acceptance of these terms also constitutes acceptance of it.

DogMatch operates a technological venue intended to let dog owners find providers and contact them, and to let providers present themselves. Our role begins and ends with displaying the information and enabling contact.

We are not a party to the transaction between the dog owner and the provider. We are not an agent, representative or broker for either party, nor an employer, partner, contractor, insurer or guarantor, and no employment relationship or agency of any kind exists between us and the providers.

We do not set prices, service terms, dates or the manner of performance, we do not supervise performance of the service, we do not routinely visit providers' premises and we do not inspect the actual conditions in which dogs are kept.

The decision whom to contact, to whom to entrust the dog, on what terms and at what price rests with the dog owner alone, at their full responsibility.

The mere presence of a provider on the platform, its position in search results, its rating, its badges or its promotion does not constitute a recommendation, approval, guarantee or professional opinion by us as to its competence, professionalism or the safety of its services. The order of results may be affected by a paid subscription, sponsored promotion, a matching algorithm, geographic location and further commercial considerations.

We carry out a basic administrative check on providers who register on the platform. A "Verified" badge is granted to a provider who uploaded a certificate or document that the DogMatch team reviewed and approved. That check relies solely on information and documents the provider supplies to us of its own accord, and we are unable to fully verify their accuracy, their validity or its continued compliance with them.

It is expressly clarified that the check does not include, among other things:

• A criminal record or background check on the provider or anyone acting on its behalf
• A physical visit to the provider's home or premises, and certainly not ongoing inspection
• A veterinary assessment of housing conditions, hygiene or safety
• A professional review of training, housing or handling methods
• Ongoing monitoring of the validity of licences, permits, certifications or insurance policies
• Verification of the authenticity of reviews, recommendations or experience presented by the provider

A "Verified" badge reflects a point-in-time check performed on a particular date on the basis of the information given to us. It is not a guarantee, approval or promise as to the quality of the service, its safety, licensing, insurance, or the provider's continued compliance with any requirement. We are not responsible where information given to us was incorrect, misleading or out of date. We may grant, suspend or remove a badge at any time at our sole discretion, without this giving rise to any claim by any party.

Entrusting a dog to another person involves risk. The dog owner is the only one who can assess whether a particular provider suits their dog, and is required to carry out an independent check before any engagement. We strongly recommend the following, and in any event clarify that responsibility for it rests with the dog owner alone:

• Visit the place where the dog will stay and form an impression of the housing conditions, fencing and safety
• Ask to see a business licence and any permits required by law for the activity, to the extent required
• Ask for confirmation of a valid insurance policy covering the activity and third-party damage
• Agree in writing, in advance, on price, dates, how many dogs are on site, emergency procedures and cancellation terms
• Leave veterinarian details, authorisation for emergency treatment and an undertaking to pay for it
• Make sure the dog is lawfully vaccinated, microchipped and treated against parasites
• Give the provider full and accurate information about the dog, including medical condition, medication, allergies, sensitivities, separation anxiety, tendency to escape and aggression towards people or other animals

Withholding information or giving incorrect information about the dog may endanger the dog itself, other dogs and people, and full responsibility for that, including for any resulting damage, rests with the dog owner alone.

The dog owner is responsible for their dog at all times and in all places, including while it is staying with a provider. Israeli law imposes broad liability on a dog owner, including liability for damage caused by the dog under the Civil Wrongs Ordinance, as well as duties under the Regulation of Supervision over Dogs Law, the Animal Welfare Law and local authority by-laws, including licensing, microchipping, rabies vaccination, keeping the dog on a leash and muzzling a dog declared dangerous.

The dog owner undertakes to indemnify the operator, and also the provider, for any damage, expense or claim originating in their dog or in a breach of their duties under the law.

A provider presenting itself on the platform represents and undertakes, to the operator and to dog owners, that:

• It holds every licence, permit and approval required by law for its activity, including a business licence where one is required for a boarding kennel or other business, and that it will keep them up to date
• It holds suitable and valid insurance, including third-party and professional liability cover, at a level reasonable for its activity
• It acts in accordance with all applicable law, including the Animal Welfare Law and animal welfare requirements, and in a safe and proper manner
• All information it has supplied, including certifications, experience, prices, availability, photographs and description of the premises, is true, accurate, current and not misleading, and it will update it immediately upon any change
• Full and sole responsibility towards the customer for the service, its quality, its pricing, cancellations, refunds, issuing a lawful invoice and reporting to the tax authorities rests with it alone
• It is independent in every respect, is not an employee of the operator, is not entitled to any employment benefits from it, and will not argue otherwise
• It will not present itself as acting on behalf of DogMatch, and will not use its name or marks without written approval

The provider undertakes to indemnify the operator for any claim, demand, damage or expense, including legal fees, arising from the service it supplied, from information it published or from a breach of its undertakings.

The platform and its content are provided AS IS and AS AVAILABLE, without any representation or undertaking of any kind, express or implied, including as to fitness for a particular purpose, availability, accuracy or continuity.

Without derogating from the generality of the above, the operator bears no liability, direct or indirect, for:

• Any harm to a dog, including death, injury, illness, infection, escape, loss, theft, neglect or abuse, while staying with a provider or on the way to or from one
• Any bodily injury, mental harm, distress or property damage caused to the dog owner, the provider, members of their households or any third party
• Any act or omission of a provider or another user, including negligence, breach of contract, fraud, theft or breach of the law
• The service failing to meet expectations, training outcomes, behavioural change or the absence of any
• The accuracy, completeness or currency of information published by a user, including prices, availability, certifications, photographs, reviews and ratings
• Loss of profit, loss of business opportunity, damage to reputation or any indirect, consequential or special damage
• Technical failure, downtime, software error, data loss, virus, hacking or unauthorised access, and failures at third-party suppliers

If, despite the above, any liability is imposed on the operator in connection with the platform or its use, it shall be limited to the amount actually paid to it by that user in the six months preceding the event giving rise to the claim, and in the absence of such payment - to ILS 500. Nothing in this section excludes liability that may not be excluded or limited under applicable law.

The content on the platform, including articles, recommendations, matching results and system messages, is general information only. It does not constitute veterinary, behavioural, legal, insurance or other professional advice, and must not be relied upon as a substitute for personal advice from a qualified professional.

In the event of distress or a medical emergency involving the dog, contact a veterinarian immediately.

Any dispute, claim or demand between a dog owner and a provider, including regarding the quality of the service, damage, payment, cancellation or refund, is a matter between those parties alone. We are not a party to it, we do not conduct arbitration or mediation, and we are not obliged to investigate complaints or decide between the parties.

We may, but are not obliged to, remove content, suspend an account or pass information to a competent authority to the extent the law requires or permits. Such action shall not be construed as an assumption of liability.

The user releases the operator from any claim, demand or cause of action, known or unknown, arising out of or connected with such a dispute.

Basic use of the platform by dog owners is free of charge. Providers may purchase paid services, including a DogMatch Pro subscription, a personal landing page and early-request credit packages.

Paid services are exposure and marketing tools only. They carry no undertaking as to the number of enquiries, customers, transactions, revenue, a particular position in search results or any business outcome, and they are not refundable on the ground that business expectations were not met.

Payment processing is carried out by an external payment provider. We do not collect or store credit card details, and use of the payment page is also subject to the payment provider's own terms and policies.

Prices are stated in new Israeli shekels and include VAT as required by law, unless stated otherwise. We may update prices, plans and benefits at any time. A change will not apply retroactively to a period already paid for.

A paid plan is granted for the period purchased only and does not renew automatically, unless expressly stated otherwise on the payment page. Credits are personal, may not be transferred, sold or converted into money, do not bear interest, and expire when the account is closed or cancelled.

Promotions and launch benefits are limited in time, quantity and by the terms published for them, and confer no vested right. A charge that is declined, cancelled or charged back by the card issuer entitles us to suspend the benefit immediately.

Cancellation of a transaction with the operator shall be made in accordance with the Consumer Protection Law, 5741-1981 and the regulations thereunder, including:

• In a distance selling transaction, the transaction may be cancelled within 14 days of the date it was made or of receipt of the disclosure document, whichever is later. In that case a cancellation fee of 5% of the transaction amount or ILS 100, whichever is lower, will be charged.
• In a continuing transaction, notice of cancellation may be given at any time. Charging will stop at the time prescribed by law, and the pro-rata portion for the unused period will be refunded.
• Notice of cancellation shall be given in writing through the contact page or the email address shown there, stating full name, telephone number and transaction number.
• The value of benefits already used will be deducted from the refund, including credits redeemed and days of exposure or promotion already used.

It is clarified that cancellations, refunds, cancellation fees and deposits in a transaction between a dog owner and a provider are not our responsibility and are not handled by us. Payment in such a transaction is made directly between the parties, who must agree the cancellation terms between themselves in advance.

Payment for the service is made directly between the dog owner and the provider. We do not charge for the service, we do not hold funds in escrow, we do not issue invoices on the provider's behalf and we are not responsible for collection, non-payment or any financial dispute.

We recommend agreeing payment in writing in advance, avoiding transferring significant sums to a party you have not met, and being wary of requests for immediate payment outside the platform, offers far below market prices, or messages asking for card details or verification codes. The operator will never ask you for card details or a password in the chat.

Responsibility for user content rests with the person who published it alone. The operator is not obliged to monitor content, does not endorse it and is not responsible for its accuracy.

The user represents that the content they uploaded is theirs or that they hold all rights in it, and that it does not infringe copyright, trade marks, privacy or any other right.

By uploading content to the platform the user grants the operator a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free licence, assignable and sub-licensable, to use the content for the purpose of operating, displaying, marketing and promoting the platform in any medium, including editing, shortening and technical adaptation.

A review must reflect a genuine, personal experience. It is prohibited to publish a fake review, a self-review, a paid review or a review on behalf of a competitor. It is prohibited to publish content that is defamatory, invades privacy, harasses, threatens, is racist, sexual, false or offensive.

We may, at our sole discretion and without prior notice, refuse to publish, edit, shorten, suspend or remove any content, and remove a rating or badge, without this giving rise to any claim by the user.

Notice and takedown: anyone who believes content on the platform harms them or infringes their rights is invited to contact us through the contact page, providing details of the content and the reasons. We will review the request and act at our discretion and in accordance with the law. Handling a request or removing content does not constitute an admission of liability.

Reviews, recommendations or screenshots originating from external sources, where displayed, are presented as they are and at the sole responsibility of whoever supplied them.

All intellectual property rights in the platform, including in the code, design, structure, databases, the DogMatch name, the logo and the trade marks, belong to the operator or to the rights holders who licensed them to it, and may not be used without prior written approval.

It is prohibited to copy, reproduce, distribute, publish, scrape, download automatically, data-mine, reverse engineer, or use the platform's content, including the provider database, in order to build a competing service, to approach users commercially, or to train computational models.

The messaging system is intended for relevant communication between users about the service only. We do not routinely monitor conversations and are not responsible for their content, but we may access them, retain them and use them for information security, fraud prevention, enforcement of these terms, investigation of a complaint or response to a request from a competent authority.

When a new message is received for you and you are not active on the platform, we will send a notification to the email address registered to your account, and, according to your choice, also a mobile notification. The notification may include a preview of the message and a direct link to the conversation.

Marketing messages will be sent in accordance with section 30A of the Communications (Telecommunications and Broadcasting) Law, 5742-1982, and consent may be withdrawn at any time using the unsubscribe link in the message or in the account settings. Operational messages concerning the account, security or the service will also be sent to users who have unsubscribed from marketing messages.

A provider that has purchased a landing page or personal site is solely responsible for all content displayed on it, including text, images, prices and marketing claims, and undertakes not to include misleading or unlawful information.

We may remove or suspend such a page for breach of these terms, a well-founded complaint or a legal requirement. Publication of the page is conditional on a valid subscription and will stop at the end of the subscription period or upon its cancellation.

The platform may display directories and lists of businesses, including grooming salons, dog-friendly accommodation and other businesses. These lists are displayed for users' convenience only, based on public information or information supplied by the business, and do not undergo the check applied to providers.

Benefits, promotions and discounts from commercial partners are provided by the partner at its sole responsibility, are subject to its terms, and any engagement with it is made directly. We are not responsible for their supply, quality, terms or cancellation.

The platform contains links to and content from third parties. We do not control them and are not responsible for their content, availability or privacy policies, and using them is at the user's own risk.

We may receive monetary or other consideration for advertising, referrals or commercial cooperation presented on the platform.

A user participating in the affiliate programme is entitled to a reward in accordance with the terms published in the affiliate dashboard at the time of the referral. We may change reward rates, eligibility terms and the programme as a whole, and discontinue it, at any time.

It is prohibited to promote the link using spam, misleading advertising, impersonation of the operator, untrue representations or fictitious sign-ups. A breach will result in forfeiture of the reward, blocking of the account and the operator's right to recover its losses.

The reward does not constitute salary. Tax obligations in respect of it rest with the recipient alone.

When using the platform, all of the following are prohibited:

• Supplying false details, impersonating another person or entity, or opening multiple accounts or an account under a fictitious identity
• Using the platform for an unlawful purpose, including fraud, trade in animals, gambling or money laundering
• Harassment, threats, bullying, invasion of privacy or discrimination against another user or the operator's staff
• Sending advertising or commercial approaches to other users without their consent
• Using automated tools, bots or scripts, overloading the servers, attempting to hack, circumventing restrictions or accessing information not intended for the user
• Copying the provider or user database, in whole or in part, or using it for a competing service
• Publishing another person's personal details, including photographs, without their consent
• Making any undertaking or representation on behalf of the operator, or using its name and marks without authorisation

We may, at our sole discretion, restrict, suspend, block or delete an account, profile or content, at any time and even without prior notice, including for breach of these terms, suspected fraud, repeated complaints, risk to the safety of animals or people, or a requirement of a competent authority. This shall not give the user any right to compensation.

In the case of a material breach, no refund will be given for the remainder of a subscription period or for unused credits.

A user may stop using the platform and delete their account at any time through the account page. Deleting an account does not derogate from rights accrued beforehand and does not cancel charges already made.

Provisions of these terms which by their nature are intended to continue to apply, including limitation of liability, indemnity, intellectual property, confidentiality and governing law and jurisdiction, will continue to apply after use ends.

The user undertakes to indemnify and compensate the operator, its owners, directors, employees and anyone on its behalf, immediately upon first demand, for any allegation, demand, claim, damage, loss, fine and expense, including legal fees and court costs, arising from their use of the platform, from the service they supplied or received, from content they published, from a breach of these terms or from a breach of any law or third-party right.

We do not undertake that the platform will be continuously available or fault-free. There may be interruptions for maintenance, updates, malfunctions or failures at infrastructure, hosting, payment, mapping or communications suppliers.

We may change, add, reduce or discontinue any feature, service or the platform as a whole, at any time and at our discretion, giving reasonable notice where practicable.

The operator shall not be liable for delay or non-performance resulting from circumstances beyond its control, including force majeure, war, a state of emergency, strike, epidemic, infrastructure failure or cyber attack.

We collect and process information needed to operate the platform: registration and identification details (name, email, telephone, profile picture), the dog's details, area or city, the content of messages, reviews and requests, usage, device and browser data, and transaction data when a purchase is made. Payment method details are supplied directly to the payment provider and are not stored by us.

The information is used to provide and operate the service, to match users, for security and fraud prevention, for product improvement and statistical analysis, for support, for communications in accordance with consent, and to comply with legal obligations.

We share information, to the extent required for those purposes, with service providers acting on our behalf, including providers of authentication and identity, hosting and cloud, payment processing, messaging, mapping and usage analytics; with a provider you contacted on your own initiative; with a commercial partner you expressly asked to be contacted by; and with competent authorities or in the course of legal proceedings, to the extent the law requires or permits. Some suppliers operate outside Israel, and information is transferred to them in accordance with the law.

Supplying information is voluntary, but without it some services cannot be used. We do not sell personal information to third parties.

Under the Protection of Privacy Law, 5741-1981, you have the right to review information held about you, to request its correction or deletion, and to withdraw consent to marketing communications. Requests should be made through the contact page. We may continue to retain information where required to comply with legal obligations, collect debts, investigate complaints and defend against claims, including until the end of the relevant limitation periods.

We use cookies and browser local storage for operation, saving preferences and measurement. These can be blocked or deleted in the browser settings, though doing so may impair how the platform functions.

We apply reasonable security measures, but no online system is entirely immune, and we cannot undertake that no intrusion or data leak will occur. We do not knowingly collect information about minors under the age of 18.

We may update these terms from time to time. The binding version is the one published on this page, and the date of the last update appears at the top of it. Where a change is material we will publish reasonable notice on the platform.

Continued use of the platform after the update is published constitutes acceptance of the updated version. A user who does not agree to a change may stop using the platform and delete their account.

A waiver of, or failure to enforce, a right under these terms shall not be treated as a waiver of that right or of any other right. If a provision of these terms is found void or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall remain in force and that provision shall be interpreted so as to give effect to its purpose as far as possible.

The operator may assign its rights and obligations under these terms, including in the course of a merger, acquisition or transfer of business. The user may not assign their rights without our written consent.

These terms embody the entire agreement between the parties and replace any prior representation, publication or promise. In any conflict between the Hebrew version of these terms and a translation into another language, the Hebrew version shall prevail.

These terms and any use of the platform are governed solely by the laws of the State of Israel, without regard to its conflict of law rules.

Exclusive jurisdiction over any matter arising from these terms or from use of the platform is vested in the competent courts of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa district.

To the extent permitted by law, any claim or demand against the operator must be brought within 12 months of the date the cause of action arose, after which it shall be time-barred.

For questions, enquiries, cancellation notices, requests concerning personal information or reports of offensive content, you can contact us through the contact page, and we will endeavour to respond within a reasonable time. The operator's details will be provided on request and in accordance with the law.