How To Deal When Your Homeowners Insurance Really Hates Your Dog

Did you know your homeowners insurance really hates your dog? They do. They always have. Relax, it's nothing against your dog. Your dog could dine at the dinner table with Queen Elizabeth on a nightly basis and it wouldn't make a bit of difference. Why? Because in the eyes of your homeowners insurance provider your dog isn't a faithful, loyal canine companion. He's a lawsuit and an expensive homeowners insurance claim just waiting to happen.

No, it's not fair. Yes, there are plenty of organizations campaigning for a dog's right to be innocent until proven guilty. (After all, no one bothers to ask how likely it is that your kids are going to blow up your garage before issuing an insurance policy that will rebuild it if they do, but they're quick to jump to the conclusion that just because you have a dog you're more likely to need to file homeowners insurance claims than the guy next door.) To date, however, other than giving your dog the opportunity to prove themselves these campaigns haven't had much effect.

What do your homeowners insurance companies have against your dog? To be fair, the numbers are on their side. Five percent of all liability claims every year are the result of dog bites, usually by "friendly" household pets that felt threatened and lashed back. While the stereotypical image of a dog attack usually centers around the vicious Rottweilers Hollywood likes to feature in their junkyard scenes, the simple truth of the matter is that with the right provocation any animal can bite-even your sweet little poodle.

When you take into account the fact that between legal fees and medical bills the average homeowners insurance claim for a dog bite is in excess of $24,000 (yes, a single dog can, when provoked, cause five figures worth of damages) and the fact that statistics show there are more than 7 million dogs in the U.S., it's easy to understand why homeowners insurance companies have a healthy respect for their profit margins. Not that it would ever happen (one would hope) but if every dog in the world attacked a human homeowners insurance providers would have to pay damages in excess of 168,000,000,000-far more than most insurers make in premiums each year.

Granted, that's a worst case scenario, but insurance companies that can't think in terms of worst case scenarios when they're pricing their insurance policies don't stay in business very long (a fate that many experts suspect may be lying in wait for many of our country's last resort homeowners insurance providers).

Most homeowners insurance providers aren't completely unreasonable when it comes to your pet, however. (After all, most of them have dogs too!) You can keep your homeowners insurance coverage-and your reasonable rates-by enrolling your dog in obedience school or enlisting in a doggie boot camp, then sending your insurer a copy of their completion certificate. Make sure your pet has a fenced in backyard in which to run to release energy, with a fence that's high enough to protect them from curious passers-by and keep them from feeling threatened enough to attack.

Your homeowners insurance company doesn't like your dog, and there's not much you can do to change that. With a little effort, however, you can effectively minimize the long term damage that dislike is going to do to your wallet and keep the affordable insurance coverage you deserve.