Home Owners Insurance For Dogs

Dogs of all sizes at county shelter

When you find a new addition to your family, adoption fees are $125 for a dog to be spayed or neutered, vaccinated and micro-chipped. For a fee of $40, the dog will be micro-chipped and get some vaccinations. With this option, the new owner will have a specific timeframe to get the dog spayed or neutered if necessary and vaccinated for rabies at a vet’s office of their choosing. Adoption fees can be discussed further at time of the adoption application. Bowser is an older, large Boxer/Lab mix. He was initially being held for his owners when they had to move due to the flood this summer. He was so sad and didn’t understand why he was at the shelter and not with his family. For months shelter staff and volunteers looked forward to seeing how happy he would be when he got to go back home, but unfortunately his owners chose to abandon Bowser. Everyone at the shelter loves Bowser, so when it was discovered that he had heartworms it was hard to take. If he had just been on heartworm preventative, this wouldn’t have happened. The shelter will continue to pay for his medication after he is adopted so hopefully his health issue isn’t deterring anyone from meeting him. Bowser is a great dog! He loves people, gets along well with cats and pays no attention to other dogs. He deserves all the TLC he can get during his remaining years. Luke is a male Australian Shepherd up for adoption after being abandoned after the flood. He is undergoing heartworm treatment and is doing well but a nice, quiet home is the best place for him while he recuperates. Luke needs a family who will continue his medications and just love him. The shelter will also continue to help pay for his treatments after his adoption. Remember that your pet can be microchipped for $25. If your pet is microchipped, keep your contact information updated. Also, fences should be checked periodically for points of weakness.

Dogs Take Bite Out of Homeowners Insurance

Reuters

It’s me or the dog. That’s the ultimatum that some insurance companies give some canine owners searching for homeowners insurance or rental coverage.

If you own a dog, insurers may charge you a higher rate, exclude your dog from liability coverage or turn you down cold based on your dog’s breed, history of claims, the insurer’s dog bite claims or all of the above, says Loretta Worters, vice president of the Insurance Information Institute.

“Some companies will strictly not write certain breeds of dogs. With others, breed has no bearing; it’s really what their claims have shown,” she says.

It’s easy to understand why. According to the Insurance Information Institute in New York, dog bites account for one-third of all homeowners insurance liability claims, and more than half occur on the dog owner’s property. Dog bite claims totaled $387 million in 2008, up nearly 9 percent from 2007.

Insurance companies contend they’re merely managing their risk. But canine and animal rights groups denounce the practice as breed discrimination or profiling. Consumers and dog owners are caught in the middle.

But don’t give up lovable Max just yet. There’s a doggone good chance this story will have a happy ending.

Bad Dogs or Bad Rap?

According to the Humane Society of the United States, there are 77.5 million owned dogs in the U.S. One out of every three households, or 39 percent, includes at least one dog.

Unfortunately, those 77.5 million canines bite an estimated 4.7 million Americans each year, sending 800,000 to the emergency room, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

So-called “bad dog” lists that grew out of CDC dog bite studies from 1979 to the mid-1990s typically include the pit bull, Rottweiler, German shepherd, Siberian husky, Doberman pinscher, chow chow, Great Dane, Saint Bernard and Akita.

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