Legal

Accessibility

Committed to ensuring our products and services are accessible to all. Including the products themselves, where applicable.

Our commitment

Companion Systems is committed to ensuring that our products and services are accessible to all customers, regardless of ability, mobility, or the number of stairs between the dog and its designated location.

We recognise that accessibility is both a digital concern and a physical one. This statement addresses both. The dog addresses neither. The dog is not an accessibility solution. The dog is a dog.

Dog SE and stairs

Dog SE cannot access stairs. Dog SE uses a bipedal architecture that was not designed for vertical transit. This is not an accessibility failure. This is a design specification.

If your home has stairs, dog SE should be placed on the floor you intend it to occupy for the duration of its coexistence with you. Moving dog SE between floors requires one of the following:

  • Manual carrying (recommended for users who can lift a dog SE)
  • A lift (recommended for users who have a lift)
  • A ground-floor lifestyle (recommended for dog SE)

We do not judge your floor plan. We do judge your expectation that dog SE will learn to use stairs. It will not. Dog SE does not learn. Dog SE exists.

Dog SE and doors

Dog SE cannot open doors. This is consistent across all models. Dog Pro can open some doors, using its face. This is documented in the warranty section under “expected behaviour.”

If a door is closed, dog SE will be on one side of it. If you are on the other side, dog SE will remain on its side. Dog SE will not scratch at the door, bark at the door, or indicate in any way that the door is an obstacle. Dog SE will simply be on the other side of it, existing, as specified.

Digital accessibility

This website has been designed to be accessible. It uses clear typography, high contrast, and simple navigation. There are no carousels. There are no auto-playing videos. There is no JavaScript that moves things around while you are reading them. We believe the internet was a mistake, but while it exists, it should be easy to read.

If you encounter an accessibility barrier on this website, please contact support. Support will attempt to resolve the barrier. Support’s success rate in resolving barriers is approximately 60%, which is higher than dog SE’s name response rate but lower than dog Pro’s fetch return rate. We consider this acceptable.

Physical accessibility of our office

Our office is located above a carpet shop in Nuneaton. The entrance is via a staircase. The staircase has a handrail. There is no lift.

If you require step-free access, please call ahead and we will meet you at the carpet shop. The carpet shop is called Comfort Underfoot. They are very nice about this. We have done this before. The carpet shop understands. The carpet shop has its own accessibility challenges, but they are on the ground floor, which resolves most of them.

The staircase has 14 steps. We have counted. We count them every time we climb them. This is not an accessibility measure. This is something to do while climbing stairs.