What about Dog-Owners Insurance to deal with the problem of attacks?

[Bonobo]

I do not support bans on certain breeds because I agree that individual variability is a big factor in addition to breed-specific behavioral tendencies. There is also the problem of mixed breeds complicating the issue further.

So...Like Tomm Hartman suggests for gun-owners, what about liability insurance for dog-owners?

It is likely that insurers will eventually get pretty good at identifying the types of dogs that are most likely to cause injury and raising the insurance costs on them.

What do you think?

[baldguy]

1. Homeowners' insurance usually covers it.

There are very few insurance companies that have breed-specific riders. And there are a few states that prohibit them.

[wercal]

5. Farmers insurance lists five breeds they don't cover

[winstars]

6. What would those breeds be, went to the website but could not... nt

[wercal]

9. News Story out of California

Turns out it was 3 breeds - Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, and Wolf Hybrids

http://www.kcra.com/news/Farmers-Insurance-no-longer-covering-dog-bites-for-certain-breeds/-/11797728/18506972/-/fpvdpn/-/index.html

[pecwae]

7. Don't know about Farmer's,

but Allstate asked me if I owned Pitts or Rotties before they wrote my policy. I didn't think to ask if they would refuse me if I did own one.

[Myrina]

13. American Family asked me as well.

Although they didn't do any vet follow up to verify that my kiddos really WERE Beagles. I could have lied .... any applicant can, I suppose. "Dog? What dog?"

[pecwae]

14. I have mutts

and told them so. You bring up a good point; do they actually verify the breed? Hopefully, a DUer with vet background can answer this.

[lynne]

17. Most companies have certain breeds they will not insure -

- the rider isn't breed-specific but the policy underwriting is. If they don't insure your dog breed or if you've had a prior dog-bite claim, they won't issue a policy.

I've also seen a "Dog Bite Exclusion", amending the liability coverage to exclude any bodily injury caused by dog bite. This is usually required if there has been a prior dog-bite claim. The insured either accepted the exclusion or the policy was non-renewed. It was some years ago that I saw the exclusion so I'm not sure it's still done. However, I do know that dog breeds are considered by underwriting prior to issuance of a new contract.

[The Straight Story]

2. How about mandated liability insurance for everyone to cover dumb things they might do

A boon to insurance companies and if you leave a kid in a hot car, your dog attacks someone, someone drowns in your pool, a gun you own accidentally harms someone, etc there will be coverage?

We could extend this to climate change - since more people with cars, computers, phones, etc are damaging our environment and harming more of us than all the things above.

I would gladly endorse giving up all guns and pit bulls when others turn in their cars, only use solar power, use less water (take a bath once a week maybe, dishes about the same), etc.

Contribute to the death of the whole planet on one hand, have less than 1% of people doing something bad with object X on the other...hmmm, where should the outrage and efforts be? On the things most emotional I guess.

[flvegan]

3. Sadly, already prejudiced unjustly.

Bonobo, you make an excellent point. However, the insurance companies are already largely out of line because of a few decades of knee-jerk reactions.

And who identifies them in the future? The same folks that admit they were wrong (the CDC)?

[Kalidurga]

4. I don't know if this is a good idea or a bad idea...

But, I do believe owners should be liable for any attack their dogs instigate. If their dog kills someone they should be on the hook for a lot of money and prison time. If it is proven that someone has raised a dog to be vicious then they should be charged with first degree murder. So, this is an idea that should definitely be discussed at length.

[Myrina]

15. Someone or someTHING ...

... dogs (as pets) are considered property, so if a loose dog attacks & kills my dog, I should at least be eligible for 'property' damage (vet bills? 'funeral' services?) ... or if they're roaming and kill livestock or chickens etc ....

Honestly I'd prefer if dogs (as pets) were considered the same as humans in the cases of murder/attack/neglect etc -- too many cases of cruelty, police dogs being shot/killed - and the only thing the perps can be charged with are basically equal to property crimes.

[leftyladyfrommo]

8. Royal Oaks in Michigan has 1 mil. liability required on any

dog deemed dangerous. Plus the dog has to be in a locked enclosure or fence plus the owner has to follow another 7 pages of requirements. This is for any dog that has bitten or attacked either a human or another domesticated animal.

Dogs that were protecting their owners or their property not included.

This is a lot better than a breed specific ban. Lots of different breeds of dogs can be aggressive. Lots of people own gentle pitts and rotties. This way they don't have to pay the price for a few bad apples.

[KurtNYC]

10. Around 33% of claims against homeowners insurance are for dog bites

http://www.farmers.com/dog_bites.html

[randome]

11. I find the 'money approach' to this to be a little sad.

Have you seen some of the ruined faces of those mauled by pit bulls? You think money can make up for that?

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[AngryAmish]

12. Problem is not everyone has homeowners insurance

Renters for example...

[rl6214]

16. Are we just going to insure everyone to death?