The Crisis of Choosing Between Owning a Dog and Obtaining Home Owners Insurance (Part 1 of 2 Articles)

If you’re loving dog decides to bite how will it affect your home owners insurance?

30 August 09

By Dean A. Ayers

Lead Investigative Reporter

NationalDogPress ©

Dogs love their friends and bite their enemies, quite unlike people, who are incapable of pure love and usually, have to mix love and hate, especially on their own private property or in their own home. But if your loving dog decides to bite one of those enemies that trespass on your property, how will that affect your home owners insurance?

We look to the universe, to the world around us, to each other, and, if we are believers, to the invisible world of owning our dog(s) is sacred, and if we have one more basic desire - voiced or not, recognized or not - it is that all these God given rights to own and protect our dogs, pets and animals on our private property be on our side.

We want life without government intrusion on our pets and animals to be our ally: helping us, empowering us, enabling us to be safe and happy. We want good things without animal control officers to come our way: our internal strife and heart felt wounds healed, our loneliness banished, our power restored, our fears allayed, and this can only occur by a true ownership of a dog, pet or other animal with ‘Intrinsic value’. We want alienation of our dogs, pets and animals to be replaced with canine acceptance by our neighbors, friends, family, and animal control so that we all live in harmony and  belonging as allies to society, impoverishment with abundance, bondage with liberation, and darkness with light with our canine(s) at our side. 

Then comes the reality of owning a dog when you own or rent your home and have to acquire home owners insurance. The reality is… that of having to identify to the insurance company that your own a dog.

When you get home owner insurance quotes, it is best to tell the agent or broker if you have a dog. Many insurance companies have special policies concerning dog ownership. Having a dog can raise your rates or make it impossible for you to get complete coverage on your home.

It seems that insurance companies are more interested in their bottom line than in man's best friend. People sue for dog bite and attacks more often now and the cost of covering that risk on home owner insurance is increasing.

Overall, insurance companies paid out over $300 million in dog bite claims in 2001. More and more, they see dogs as a risk they are unwilling to take. They can lower their costs by not insuring people with dogs. They can also get more money to pay claims by increasing premiums to dog owners.

There are two basic ways insurance companies deal with dogs.

First, they have a list of dog breeds that they will refuse to cover. This list is based on several factors. If that breed has been known to bite more often, it will be on the list. If it has a bad reputation, it can also be blacklisted. Dogs can also be put on the list because of research done by the company or by the Center for Disease Control.

Some of these insurance company banned dog breeds are: pit bulls, Dobermans, Rottweilers, and wolf hybrids. There are currently seventy five other breeds that are usually found on these lists.

There are currently 75 banned dog breeds by various insurance companies across the United States as follows: 

1. AIREDALE TERRIER 
2. AKBASH 
3. AKITA 
4. ALAPAHA BLUE BLOOD BULLDOG 
5. ALASKAN MALAMUTE 
6. ALSATIAN SHEPHERD 
7. AMERICAN BULLDOG
8. AMERICAN HUSKY 
9. AMERICAN PIT BULL TERRIER 
10. AMERICAN STAFFORDSHIRE TERRIER 
11. AMERICAN WOLFDOG 
12. ANATOLIAN SHEPHERD 
13. ARIKARA DOG 
14. AUSTRALIAN CATTLE DOG 
15. AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERD 
16. BELGIAN MALINOIS 
17. BELGIAN SHEEPDOG 
18. BELGIAN TURVUREN 
19. BLUE HEELER 
20. BOERBUL 
21. BORZOI 
22. BOSTON TERRIER 
23. BOUVIER DES FLANDRES 
24. BOXER 
25. BULLDOG 
26. BULL TERRIER
27. BULL MASTIFF 
28. CANE CORSO 
29. CATAHOULA LEOPARD DOG 
30. CAUCASIAN SHEPHERD 
31. CHINESE SHAR PEI 
32. CHOW-CHOW 
33. COLORADO DOG 
34. DOBERMAN PINSCHER 
35. DOGO DE ARGENTINO 
36. DOGUE DE BORDEAUX 
37. ENGLISH MASTIFFS 
38. ENGLISH SPRINGER SPANIEL 
39. ESKIMO DOG 
40. ESTRELA MOUNTAIN DOG 
41. FILA BRASILIERO 
42. FOX TERRIER 
43. FRENCH BULLDOG 
44. GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG 
45. GOLDEN RETRIEVER 
46. GREENLAND HUSKY 
47. GREAT DANE 
48. GREAT PYRANEES 
49. ITALIAN MASTIFF 
50. KANGAL DOG 
51. KEESHOND 
52. KOMONDOR 
53. KOTEZEBUE HUSKY 
54. KUVAZ 
55. LABRADOR RETRIEVER 
56. LEONBERGER 
57. MASTIFF 
58. NEOPOLITAN MASTIFF 
59. NEWFOUNDLAND 
60. OTTERHOUND 
61. PRESA DE CANARIO 
62. PRESA DE MALLORQUIN 
63. PUG 
64. ROTTWEILER 
65. SAARLOOS WOLFHOND 
66. SAINT BERNARD 
67. SAMOYED 
68. SCOTTISH DEERHOUND 
69. SIBERIAN HUSKY 
70. SPANISH MASTIFF 
71. STAFFORDSHIRE BULL TERRIER 
72. TIMBER SHEPHERD 
73. TOSA INU 
74. TUNDRA SHEPHERD 
75. WOLF SPITZ

If your dog is not on this list, it does not mean you cannot get insurance. It just means your insurance will not cover anything to do with the dog.

Second, there are insurers that have decided to look at dog risks on a case-by-case basis. These companies do not exclude the dog from the home owner policy unless there is a solid reason to do so. They will, however, raise your home owner insurance quotes if they find that the dog poses any threat.

There are things you can do to get better coverage.

If you have a dog that is on the list of dangerous dogs, you might consider putting him in training. A trained dog is a more controllable dog. One of the main reasons certain breeds of dogs are dangerous is that they are breeds that need to be trained. If their instruction is not completed, they might become vicious.

Get proof of your dog's training when he goes through the course. If you show it to an insurance agent, it might make a difference in your quote. Especially if the company covers dogs on a case-by-case basis, it might help.

You still may not get the home owner insurance quotes you think you deserve. You can get special insurance that covers the dog only. This frees the home owner insurance company to give you a quote you can accept.

So to put dog ownership and responsibility all in perspective, if you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a home owner’s policy with an insurance company.

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