The Bearded Pug

Privacy Policy

Effective date: October 1, 2026

The Bearded Pug (thebeardedpug.net) is a personal, non-commercial travel blog about road trips, camping and drone flights with Princess Lola the pug. This page explains, in plain English, what information the site collects, why, and what you can do about it.

The short version

  • You can read everything here without giving us any personal information.
  • We use Google Analytics to see which posts people enjoy. It uses cookies.
  • If you sign up for Lola’s alerts, we keep your email address on our own server and only use it to send those alerts.
  • We don’t sell your information, we don’t run ads, and we don’t share your email with anyone except the service that delivers our emails.

Information we collect and why

Email alerts

If you sign up for alerts, we store your email address and the dates you signed up, confirmed and (if you do) unsubscribed. We use it only to send emails about new blog posts and when the live stream starts. Every signup must be confirmed by clicking a link in a confirmation email, and every alert has a one-click unsubscribe link. Unconfirmed signups are deleted automatically after 7 days. We do not store your IP address with your signup.

Your email address is stored on our own server. Emails are delivered through Brevo (Sendinblue SAS), which processes your address and basic delivery information on our behalf only to send the message. See Brevo’s privacy policy.

Site analytics

We use Google Analytics to understand how many people visit, which pages they read and roughly where visitors are from (country or city level). Google Analytics uses cookies and collects information such as your browser, device type, pages viewed and how you arrived at the site. We only look at this in summary form; we can’t identify you personally from it. See how Google uses data from sites that use its services. You can opt out with the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on or by blocking cookies in your browser.

Comments

If you leave a comment, the name, email address and website you enter are saved along with your comment, your IP address and your browser type. Your email address is never shown publicly. Comments are checked for spam by Automattic’s Akismet service (privacy policy). If you have a Gravatar profile, an anonymized version of your email address may be sent to Gravatar to show your profile picture. Comments and their details are kept indefinitely unless you ask us to remove them.

Site accounts

If you register for an account, we store your username, email address, display name, any profile details you add, and your password (stored only in scrambled, hashed form, so we can never see it). We use this to let you log in and take part on the site, and to email you about your account (for example, password resets). Your email address is never shown publicly. You can edit your profile any time, and if you’d like your account deleted, just email us.

Buy Me a Coffee (tips)

Tips are handled entirely on Buy Me a Coffee, with payments processed by Stripe. We never see your card details. We may see the name, message and email address you choose to share with your tip. 25% of tips go to local animal rescues and shelters.

Server logs

Like almost every website, our web server automatically logs basic technical information for each visit, such as IP address, browser type, the page requested and the time. We use these logs only for security and troubleshooting, and they are deleted on a rolling basis.

If you email us

The Bearded Pug is run by one person (and one pug) as a hobby, so replies may take a few days. If you email us, we’ll use your address and message only to reply to you.

Cookies

Cookies are small files stored by your browser. This site uses:

  • Google Analytics cookies (names starting with _ga) to count visits, kept for up to 2 years.
  • Comment cookies, only if you choose to save your name and email when commenting, so you don’t have to retype them. Kept for 1 year.
  • Login cookies, only if you create an account and log in, to keep you signed in. They last for your browser session, or up to 14 days if you tick “Remember Me.”

We don’t use advertising cookies. Embedded content from other sites (below) may set its own cookies.

Embedded content from other sites

Some pages include content from other websites, which works as if you visited those sites directly. They may collect data about you, use cookies and track your interaction with that content:

Links to other websites (parks, campgrounds, our YouTube, Facebook and Bluesky pages) are covered by those sites’ own privacy policies.

Who we share information with

We don’t sell, rent or trade personal information, and we don’t share it for advertising. The only services that handle visitor information on our behalf are the ones named above: Google (analytics and YouTube), Brevo (email delivery), Automattic/Akismet (comment spam filtering), Buy Me a Coffee and Stripe (tips), and the map tile providers. We may also disclose information if required by law.

Your choices and rights

  • Unsubscribe from alerts any time with the link in any alert email.
  • Ask what information we hold about you, or ask us to correct or delete it (including your subscription or comments), by emailing us and we’ll take care of it.
  • Block or delete cookies in your browser settings, or use the Google Analytics opt-out add-on.

Depending on where you live (for example the EU, UK, Canada or California), you may have additional rights under local privacy laws, such as the right to access, correct, delete or move your data, or to object to how it’s used. We honor those requests for all visitors, wherever you live. Where the law requires a legal basis, we rely on your consent (email alerts, comments) and our legitimate interest in running and improving a small personal blog (analytics, security logs). Our services may store or process data in the United States and other countries.

Do Not Track

There’s no common standard for “Do Not Track” browser signals, so this site doesn’t change its behavior when it receives one. You can still block cookies or use the opt-out tools above.

Children

This blog isn’t directed at children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has signed up for alerts or left a comment with personal details, email us and we’ll delete it.

Security

The site uses HTTPS encryption, is kept up to date, and is backed up regularly. No website can promise perfect security, but we keep the information we hold to a minimum.

Changes to this policy

If we change how the site handles information, we’ll update this page and the effective date at the top.

Contact

Questions or requests about your information? Email tb_pug@thebeardedpug.net. Lola can’t type, but her human answers every email. 🐾