What you agree to when you buy The Ruff, use the Tether app, or use this site. Written to be read, so please read it, especially the section on what The Ruff is not.
Vriend, Inc., doing business as Tether ("Tether," "we," "us") makes The Ruff, a device that mounts on your dog's collar, and the Tether app, which is where what The Ruff picks up becomes something you can see and act on. These terms are a binding agreement between you and Tether covering the website at tether.pet, The Ruff, the Tether app, the membership that powers the app, and any related services. By ordering, creating an account, or using any of them, you accept these terms and our Privacy Policy, which is part of this agreement. If you do not accept them, do not use the products.
You must be at least 18 and able to enter a contract. We sell and ship to addresses in the United States and Canada only. Some jurisdictions give consumers rights that cannot be waived by contract, and nothing here limits those rights.
This is the most important section in these terms, so read it before anything else. The Ruff and the Tether app are wellness tools that estimate the probability that your dog is in pain by reading signals and comparing them with your dog's own history. The Pain Probability Index, the explanations, and the recommendations in the app are estimates and general information. They are not a diagnosis, not veterinary advice, and not a substitute for examination by a licensed veterinarian. The system can miss pain, and it can suggest pain where there is none.
Never delay, avoid, or change veterinary care because of anything the app shows or fails to show. If you think your dog is sick, injured, or in distress, contact a veterinarian or an emergency animal hospital immediately, whatever the app says. You are responsible for every decision you make about your dog's care, and you agree that you use The Ruff and the app with that understanding.
You need a Tether account to use the app. Give us accurate information, keep it current, and keep your password to yourself. You are responsible for everything that happens under your account, so tell us right away if you think someone else has used it. One account may pair with more than one Ruff, and each Ruff may be paired with only one account at a time.
Prices are in United States dollars unless the checkout shows otherwise. The Ruff is a one-time purchase. Membership, which is what turns the device's signals into a pain score, an explanation, and a next step, is billed separately as described below. Taxes, duties, and shipping are calculated at checkout and may be charged in addition to the listed price. For Canadian orders you are the importer of record and are responsible for any duties, taxes, or brokerage fees the carrier collects on delivery.
Payments are processed by Stripe. We do not see or store your full card number. By placing an order you authorize us and our payment processor to charge your payment method for the amounts shown at checkout. We may cancel or refuse an order if we suspect fraud, if the product was mispriced, if it is out of stock, or if it is being purchased for resale, and we will refund anything you paid for a cancelled order.
The Ruff is sold on a pre-order basis. First units are expected to ship in November 2026, and orders ship in batches in the order they were placed, so earlier orders ship first and later orders receive later estimated windows. Every ship date or window we give, at checkout, in email, or on this site, is an estimate rather than a promise, and it may move for reasons including order volume, component supply, manufacturing yield, testing, certification, and carrier capacity. We will keep you informed by email as your order progresses.
If we cannot ship your order within the estimated window shown at checkout, we will tell you before that window ends, give you a revised estimate, and give you the choice of waiting or cancelling for a full refund of everything you paid. If the revised estimate is 30 days or less beyond the original window and you do not respond, we will treat that as your choice to wait. If the revised estimate is more than 30 days beyond the original window, or we cannot give one, we will ask you to confirm that you want to wait, and if you do not confirm we will cancel the order and refund you. You may also cancel at any time while a delay notice is outstanding. Because your included membership months and your return window both start on the day of delivery, a delay never shortens either.
Once your order has been handed to the carrier it cannot be changed. Risk of loss and title pass to you when the carrier delivers the package to the address you gave us. If a package is lost in transit, contact us and we will work with the carrier to trace or replace it. We are not responsible for packages delivered to an address you entered incorrectly, or that are stolen after delivery.
Our full Return Policy is part of these terms. In summary, you have 15 days from the day the carrier records your order as delivered to request a return for a refund. Returns are only possible after you have received the device, and orders cannot be cancelled or refunded before delivery except where we have missed the shipping window described above. Returned devices must be complete, undamaged beyond normal use, and removed from your account, and refunds are issued to the original payment method after we receive and inspect the return. Original shipping charges are not refundable, and return shipping is at your cost unless the return is because of our error or a defect.
Every Ruff includes 3 months of membership. Your included months start on the day your Ruff is delivered, not the day you order. When you buy you choose either monthly billing at $8.99 a month or annual billing at $82.88 a year. Nothing is charged for membership until your included months end.
Membership renews automatically. When your included months end, and at the end of every billing period after that, we will charge the plan price to your payment method until you cancel. You can cancel at any time in the app or from your account settings. On a monthly plan, cancellation stops the next monthly charge and the month you have already paid for is not refunded. On an annual plan, the year you have paid for is not refundable once it has been charged, and cancellation stops the renewal at the end of that year. We do not give refunds or credits for unused time on either plan, except where the law requires it. If we change the price of a plan we will tell you at least 30 days before the new price applies, and you can cancel before it does. Without an active membership The Ruff does not produce new scores, explanations, or recommendations, though your account and history remain available to you for as long as we keep the service running.
By buying, you agree to this automatic renewal and you confirm that we have described the price, the billing frequency, when charges begin, and how to cancel.
We warrant that The Ruff will be free from defects in materials and workmanship under normal use for one year from the date of delivery. If it is not, we will, at our choice, repair it, replace it with a new or refurbished unit, or refund what you paid for it. That is your only remedy under this warranty, and it does not cover the sleeve, cable, or other accessories beyond 90 days, damage from chewing, impact, misuse, water beyond the device's stated rating, unauthorized repair or modification, normal wear, or units bought from anyone other than us or an authorized seller. Contact us to make a claim and we will tell you how to send the device back. We cover shipping both ways for a confirmed defect.
To the extent the law allows, any implied warranty, including of merchantability and fitness for a purpose, is limited to the one-year term of this warranty. Some jurisdictions do not allow limits on how long an implied warranty lasts, so this limit may not apply to you. This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may have others that vary by state or province.
The Ruff contains a lithium battery and small parts. Check the device, the sleeve, and the mount regularly, and stop using it if anything is cracked, swollen, hot, or loose. It is not a toy and not a chew item. Keep it away from young children and from any animal it is not mounted on. The Ruff is designed for dogs only and must not be used on any other animal. Mount it only as described in the instructions, check the fit and the skin under the device regularly, and do not use it on a collar that is too tight, on a dog under 20 lbs, on a dog with an open wound or irritation where the device sits, or on a dog who chews at it. You are responsible for supervising your dog's use of the device. Charge only with the supplied cable from a standard USB source. Do not open the device.
You may use The Ruff and the app for your own dogs and for your own non-commercial purposes. You may not resell the service, reverse engineer the device or the app except where the law expressly permits it, interfere with or overload our systems, use automated tools to access the app, use the products to harm anyone, or try to access another person's account or data. We can suspend or close accounts that break these rules.
The readings The Ruff collects from your dog, everything the system derives from them, including scores, baselines, explanations, and recommendations, and all data combined across dogs are owned by Tether. To the extent you hold any rights in that data or in anything you enter into the app, you assign them to Tether, and where an assignment is not effective you grant Tether a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free license to use, process, store, combine, and create works from it for any purpose, including running the service, research, model development, and publications. Tether may keep and use this data after your account closes. Your personal information, meaning information that identifies you, is handled as described in our Privacy Policy, and nothing in this section takes away rights that privacy laws give you over it.
If you send us ideas or feedback, you agree we can use them without owing you anything.
The Ruff, the Tether app, the software inside them, our models, the Pain Probability Index and the methods behind it, our content, and our trademarks belong to us or our licensors. We give you a limited, personal, non-transferable license to use the app and the software in the device with your Ruff. You get no other rights, and you may not copy, modify, or create derivative works from any of it.
The app relies on your phone, its operating system, your WiFi and Bluetooth connections, and services run by other companies such as Stripe and our cloud hosting providers. We are not responsible for those services, for interruptions they cause, or for their terms and policies. We may add, change, or remove features, and we may end support for older phones, operating systems, or device versions with reasonable notice.
Except for the limited warranty above and any rights the law gives you that cannot be limited, the products and the website are provided as is and as available. We do not promise that the app will be uninterrupted, error free, or secure, that readings will be accurate or complete, that the service will detect any particular condition, or that any recommendation will suit your dog. You use the products at your own risk.
To the fullest extent the law allows, Tether, its officers, employees, advisors, and suppliers are not liable to you for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost data, or veterinary, medical, or other costs, arising out of or related to the products, the website, or these terms, however caused and under any legal theory, even if we were told they were possible. Our total liability for all claims relating to the products or these terms will not exceed the greater of the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim or $299. Some jurisdictions do not allow some of these limits, so some may not apply to you. These limits are a fundamental part of the deal between us, and the prices reflect them.
You will defend and reimburse Tether and its officers, employees, and advisors for any claim, loss, or expense, including reasonable legal fees, that arises from your breach of these terms, your misuse of the products, or your violation of anyone else's rights or of any law.
Dogs are living animals, pain is hard to detect, and no technology can see everything. You understand that The Ruff can miss pain, report pain that is not there, or fail because of fit, damage, connectivity, battery, or software, and that acting on or ignoring what the app shows can affect your dog's health. You accept those risks. To the fullest extent the law allows, you release Tether from any claim, including for injury to or the death of an animal, that arises from your reliance on the products, from your decisions about your dog's care, or from your use or misuse of the device, other than claims the law does not allow you to release.
Any claim you have against Tether relating to the products or these terms must be started within one year after the claim arises, or it is permanently barred, unless the law where you live does not allow that limit.
If you download the Tether app from Apple's App Store or Google Play, those companies are not parties to this agreement and have no responsibility for the app or for support, maintenance, warranty, or claims relating to it. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of this agreement as it relates to the app and may enforce it against you. You confirm you are not in a country subject to a United States government embargo and are not on any government list of prohibited parties.
We are not responsible for delays or failures caused by events outside our reasonable control, including carrier delays, component shortages, natural events, labor disputes, government action, or failures of the internet, wireless networks, or third-party services.
If you have a problem, contact us first. Most issues can be sorted out quickly and informally, and you agree to give us 30 days from the day you write to us to try before you take any other step.
If we cannot resolve it, you and we agree that any dispute arising out of or relating to these terms or the products will be resolved by binding, individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, rather than in court, and you and we each waive the right to a jury trial. The arbitrator can award the same relief a court could, but only to you individually. You and we agree that claims may be brought only on an individual basis and not as a plaintiff or class member in any class, collective, or representative proceeding. Either of us may instead bring an individual claim in small claims court. Arbitration fees will be handled under the AAA rules, and if your claim is under $10,000 we will pay the filing fees the rules do not require you to pay. You may opt out of this arbitration agreement by writing to us within 30 days of first accepting these terms, stating that you opt out, and we will still be bound by the rest of the agreement.
These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Missouri and the federal laws of the United States, without regard to conflict of law rules, and any court proceeding that is permitted will take place in the state or federal courts in Kansas City, Missouri. If you live in a jurisdiction whose law does not allow mandatory arbitration, class action waivers, or a choice of foreign law or forum in consumer contracts, including Quebec and Ontario, those provisions do not apply to you to that extent, and you keep the rights your law gives you.
We may update these terms. If a change is material we will tell you by email or in the app at least 30 days before it takes effect, and continuing to use the products after that date means you accept it. If you do not, cancel your membership and stop using the products. We may suspend or end your access if you break these terms, and sections that by their nature should survive, including the disclaimers, limits, indemnity, and dispute terms, survive termination.
These terms, the Return Policy, and the Privacy Policy are the whole agreement between us about the products. If any part is found unenforceable the rest still applies. You may not transfer this agreement, and we may transfer it as part of a merger, sale, or reorganization. Our not enforcing a term is not a waiver of it. Questions about these terms can be sent to [legal or support email], or by mail to [company mailing address].