Child Safety Standards
Effective July 30, 2026
Puppy Pals is a location-sharing app for dog owners, published by Fehr Play Labs LLC. This page sets out our standards against child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE), how to report a concern to us, and how we respond. It is our published child safety standard, and it is the standard we publish for the purposes of Google Play's Child Safety Standards policy and the child safety requirements of any other store that distributes the app.
If a child is in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services first. In the United States you can also report to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) CyberTipline at report.cybertip.org or 1-800-843-5678.
1. Our commitment
Puppy Pals has zero tolerance for child sexual abuse and exploitation. Child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and any content or conduct that sexualizes, endangers, or exploits a child is absolutely prohibited in Puppy Pals, without exception and regardless of the form it takes or the intent claimed for it.
We prohibit this conduct outright, we act on reports, and we report apparent CSAM to the authorities as described in Sections 6 and 7.
2. Who Puppy Pals is for
Puppy Pals is intended for users 18 years of age or older. The app is not directed to children, is not designed for children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. This mirrors Section 7 of our Privacy Policy.
If we become aware that a person under 18 has created an account or provided us with personal information, we will delete the account and the associated data. The one exception is a safety report about that account, which we retain as described in Section 6. If you believe someone under 18 is using Puppy Pals, please tell us using either route in Section 5.
3. What people can share in Puppy Pals
Understanding the app's actual surface matters, because it defines where risk can and cannot arise. Puppy Pals is a deliberately narrow product. Users can share:
- Photos of their dog — one profile photo per dog and up to ten gallery photos per dog.
- Short text about their dog — a dog name (up to 30 characters), breed (up to 40), and a bio (up to 140).
- Names of dog parks they add to the map (3–50 characters).
Just as importantly, Puppy Pals has no private messaging channel of any kind. There is no chat, no direct messages, no comments, no photo captions, no public feed, and no way for one user to send free-form text or images to another user. Friend requests and "heading your way" alerts are fixed templates that carry no user-written message.
Discovery is also constrained. Users connect in only two ways: by typing another user's exact PuppyTag handle (for example DogName#1234), or by both being physically checked in at the same dog park at the same time. There is no search by name, email, or phone number, and a user who is not checked in is not discoverable at any park.
The practical effect is that Puppy Pals does not offer the private, unmonitored one-to-one contact channel that grooming and solicitation typically depend on. We consider this a core part of our child safety posture, not an accident of the product.
Reporting and blocking, in the app
Every user profile in Puppy Pals carries a menu with Report and Block. Both are available on anyone you can see, whether or not they are one of your pals, and they need no prior contact with us.
Blocking is mutual and takes effect immediately. A blocked person cannot see your location, cannot find you at a park, and cannot send you a pal request; any existing pal connection between you is removed. You can review and undo your blocks at any time under Profile → settings → Blocked accounts. Unblocking someone does not restore a previous pal connection.
Reporting asks you to choose a reason — one of which is “Child safety concern” — and offers to block the person at the same time, which is switched on by default. Reports go directly to the point of contact named in Section 8. They are private: the person you report is not told who reported them, and no other user can read a report.
4. Prohibited conduct
The following are prohibited in Puppy Pals and will result in immediate removal of the content and permanent termination of the account involved:
- Uploading, storing, linking to, or transmitting child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
- Sexualizing a minor in any content, including photographs, text, or a profile.
- Grooming, soliciting, or attempting to sexually exploit a minor.
- Child sex tourism, child trafficking, or facilitating either.
- Extorting or threatening a minor with real or purported intimate imagery (sextortion).
- Using Puppy Pals — including its check-in, park, or discovery features — to identify, contact, locate, or arrange to meet a minor.
- Creating an account on behalf of, or while under, the age of 18.
5. How to report a child safety concern
You can report any child safety concern, including suspected CSAM or any conduct listed in Section 4, in two ways.
In the app
Open the profile of the person you are concerned about, tap the ⋮ menu in the top right, and choose Report. Select “Child safety concern” as the reason and submit. Leave “Also block this user” switched on — it is on by default — and they will immediately be unable to see your location, find you at a park, or contact you.
This is the fastest route and it reaches us directly. You do not need to email us as well, though you are welcome to.
By email
For anything the in-app form does not cover — including a report about someone whose profile you cannot open, or a concern raised by someone who does not use Puppy Pals — write to:
Please include whatever you can: the dog name or PuppyTag involved, the park, the approximate date and time, and a description of what you saw. Please do not attach, forward, or re-share suspected child sexual abuse material — describe it instead. Forwarding it can itself be unlawful, and we do not need a copy in order to act.
Reports are welcome from anyone, whether or not you use Puppy Pals, and from any country. You may report anonymously by email, though it helps us to be able to ask follow-up questions.
You can and should also report directly to the authorities. In the United States, the NCMEC CyberTipline accepts reports from the public at report.cybertip.org. Reporting to us does not replace contacting law enforcement, and nothing on this page should discourage you from doing so.
6. How we respond
When we receive a child safety report, or otherwise obtain actual knowledge of prohibited content or conduct:
- We acknowledge the report promptly.
- We remove apparent CSAM as soon as we become aware of it, without waiting for the review to conclude.
- We suspend or permanently terminate the accounts involved. Accounts terminated for a child safety violation are not reinstated.
- We preserve the relevant records as required by law and for as long as needed to support an investigation. A safety report is retained even if the reporting or reported account is later deleted — otherwise deleting an account would destroy the only record of a complaint about it.
- We report apparent CSAM to NCMEC, as described in Section 7.
- We cooperate with law enforcement and respond to valid legal process.
Because Puppy Pals is a small, independent app, review is carried out directly by the named point of contact in Section 8 rather than by an outsourced moderation team. Reports reach that one person whether they come through the in-app form or by email. We would rather describe a process we can actually meet than publish a service-level promise we cannot.
Blocking, by contrast, does not wait on us at all. It takes effect the moment you confirm it, independently of any review.
7. Compliance with the law
Fehr Play Labs LLC complies with applicable child safety laws in the jurisdictions where Puppy Pals is available. As a US-based provider, we report apparent child sexual abuse material to the NCMEC CyberTipline as required by 18 U.S.C. § 2258A, and we cooperate with lawful requests from law enforcement and child protection authorities.
We act in accordance with the standards published on this page. Where these standards and applicable law differ, we follow whichever affords a child greater protection.
8. Point of contact
The designated point of contact for child safety, able to speak to our CSAM prevention practices and our compliance with Google Play's Child Safety Standards policy and equivalent app store requirements, is:
Cole Fehr
Fehr Play Labs LLC
5441 S Macadam Ave STE N, Portland, OR 97239, United States
cfehr@fehrplaylabs.com
9. Changes to these standards
We may update these standards as Puppy Pals develops. When we do, we will post the updated version on this page with a new effective date. Material changes to how we prevent, detect, or respond to CSAE will be reflected here.