Does anyone hold an extra insurance policy to cover liability for their dogs/kennel?
I'm interested in a policy to cover if the dogs hurt someone, got loose and caused an accident, died in a fire, etc...
If you do, what is the average cost?
This is not going to be a homeowners policy, it will be an added separate policy in addition to our existing policy.
Thanks!!

GO thru the Farm Bureu (sp?) much cheaper with exceptional coverage.

Well, I do insurance for a living...have to support the arfs... Insurance laws will vary from state to state, hence the reason we are licensed in our state of business only. However, some basic truths do follow...

Your Home policy is the FIRST area that coverage will fall into. Whether you want it to or not. What you are describing falls under the heading of a liability only claim (dog bite, dog trips someone, runs out into road and causes accident, et al). If you don't have a kennel as a business (verify with your accountant if you're not sure), you would want to make sure that you have sufficient coverage on your home and then probably would want to supplement it with an additional Personal Liability Umbrella policy. This would add an additional $1 Mil or more over what you normally carry on your Home (typically $500K but check with your agent), and would also give you additional coverage on your autos, as well.

The sticky part comes with dogs and insurance companies...some are just better to deal with than others... I have heard of some carriers cancelling a client just because they had more than 2 dogs (even if they were show dogs and not a breeding/kennel operation). "The AKC Gazette" had an article on problems with insurance carriers for dog people about a year or two ago...maybe you can find an archive copy?

In IL the two carriers who deal with dogs the easiest are Country Companies and State Farm. That may vary from state to state and what their loss experience may be like. But you shouldn't have to go through a specialty carrier...

Hope that helps!

Best regards,

Leslee Pope
Huntcrest

So do many people have an insurance policy on their show dogs? I know lots of $$ is invested when showing.

For example - something happens to the dog while out with a handler (or when out with the owner)- are there policies for this type of situation? Getting away and being HBC, car accident and dog is injured...
I guess like life insurance for people.

If so, how do you come up with a 'value' of your dog?

From the archives early this year on same subject, maybe this will be of help.

http://pub12.bravenet.com/forum/976632990/show/607231

This is certainly a valid question for all of us. I know when we bought our last house in California, our home owners co. told us in no uncertain terms that our homeowners would not cover the dogs or anyone being hurt when they were coming out to look at the dogs or to purchase a dog or whatever. They had been our homeowners and car insurance in our previous home too. My guess is that unless you are very specific about this that you could have a hard time with a claim for something like this, but I don't work in insurance so certainly don't really have the answers, just the same question.
Judy

I also work in the insurance industry. I am strictly in the Commercial Lines area, I do not do any personal whatsoever. But I do know this, if you are operating a boarding kennel etc. or have a business for your dogs ...your homeowners will most likley exclude this.

This is leaving you open and vulnerable to a huge liability claim. I would suggest that you look into obtaining a separate commercial policy for those operations. I have had marketing reps from companies tell me that they write boarding kennels etc, I am not sure what the coverage form is like.... I deal with Cattle and Horses. Now on those policies I can write coverage for animal mortality (which covers drowning, elotrocution etc) I have even specifically added high dollar horses and bulls.

There may be a market out there that would cover your animals while they are away from the premises....but I know that it would probably cost high dollars and in the event of a loss you would have to prove the worth of your animal.

I can give you an examply of an animal that was loose on one of our highways and caused a fatal accident. The owner of the animal is now being sued by the victims family....they will win, it just depends right now on how much they will be awarded.

I would definately make sure that your current agent is aware of what you are doing, if they state that it is not a problem..get it in writing.

I believe that one of the biggest problems that insurance companies see is the amount of foot traffic that will be on your property, this is a bigger liability to both you and them.

Good luck

Check into Small Business General Liability

Debbie

a friend advised us to become an LLC. We did. Is this a good idea in your professional opinion?

We are currently relocating to Massachusetts and are in the process of building a home. When I looked into getting homeowners insurance for our new house I told the agent that I was a Labrador breeder and dog show enthusiast, and that I currently own 5 dogs.When she got back to me with the quote she said that none of the companies that she dealt with would insure me because I had more then 1 dog (the breed didn't matter)She had to go to a specialty insurance company in CT that specifically insured homes of dog breeders/exhibitors. She said that most companies will not insure homes with multiple dogs anymore.

Hello,

First of all let me start with this, I work as a Commercial Lines Insurance Agent in Oregon. After reading these posts I contacted one of our brokers and was advised the following:

They will write a boarding kennel, the company that they use is called Penn Star. I spoke with the Underwriter about what types of coverages the policy allows. This policy does not specifically exclude Dog Bites (I am sure that if you have one incident of this, they would exclude it at renewal). They will cover mishandling of the dogs (dog gets loose etc). If you have a client that brings in an animal with Parvo (for example), they would pay the cost to defend you if a lawsuit occurred, but will not pay for any treatment of those animals. (after paying defense costs, they would then subrogate back against the owner of the animal that caused the problem).
The way that they rate these classes (or the way that they determine what the premium is they are going to charge is by the number of kennels that you have)
Minimum premium for $1,000,000 Occurrence $2,000,000 Aggregate is $700: for $500,000 Occurrense $1,000,000 Aggregate is $650. (occurrence is the most that they will pay out in any one occurrence, aggregate is the most that they will pay out during the policy year)

She did advise that she has a company that will handle Animal Mortality (usually done for horses). It is a very involved application, a certificate of health from a Vet is required and each dog/bitch would have to be scheduled specifically on the policy with the value stated) I am sure that in the event of a loss then you would have to prove the animals worth. I do not know what coverages are on these policies....ie what types of death are covered.

I would advise all of you out there that have boarding kennels that are not covering them currently to get coverage. I would also have each person that is boarding with you sign some kind of a waiver, you know the ones...like we are not responsible etc etc. While I have been trained to know that most of the time waivers do not hold up in court at least you are trying to protect yourself.

The above people are correct in saying that Homeowners policies will exclude your boarding kennels (Business Pursuits), so you have no coverage. Even buying a Personal Umbrella would not help, because it is Excluded in the Liability section of your policy. I believe that it was stated above that Insurance Companies are worried about the "foot traffic" on your premises....this is ABSOLUTLEY TRUE. They do not and will not assume that risk. (Now I am talking about all of the companies that we write with, I do not know what is in Farmers, Allstate etc's coverage forms).



Amanda

I don't think the original poster was asking about a boarding kennel. It sounds like she wanted to know about coverage for her own dogs.

A boarding kennel and a kennel of your own are considered the same by the insurance carrier that I mentioned. The premium would still be charged by the amount of kennels that you have in your facility.

Thanks,

Amanda

Sorry Amanda that is not true where I live and probably not so in most states. One is commercial and the other is a hobby and believe me the premiums are quite different.

I think the best way to approach the question is to contact your local State's Department of Insurance. They are the agency charged with regulating the practices of insurance carriers operating within the State. Ask them if they can tell you or send you to someone who could provide the name of a carrier who would insure animals.

My second plan of attack would be to google your state, or perhaps in general, for insurance carriers and insurance of animals/livestock.

You could also google "insurance organizations" and perhaps one of the groups you find will be able to direct you to a carrier who will insure animals.

You could also try going to a local law school library. Explain to them you are interested in cases involving suits over the valuation of lost livestock. When you get the cases, check to see who the carrier was who was a party to the suit.

I cannot say any of the above suggestions will absolutely lead directly to finding a carrier, but it should begin to hopefully point you in the right direction.

Good luck in your search.

P.S. When you do find carriers, come back and tell the Forum about them. I am sure there are many in your position who want the same information.

Hi Sally,

Yes you are correct...coverages in States will differ. I was just stating what I found out to be true in Oregon. After reading your last post I realized that I had not answered the original posters question correctly. So I went direct to the source and Pen Star will write a boarding kennel and a hobby kennel as the same with the preiums that I listed. Remember that they are generally writing smaller boarding kennels and hobby kennels, the large facilities are going to associations for their insurance. This information was provided to me direct from an Insurance Underwriter.

Here's an insurance company contact. Perhaps someone in the "insurance" business can contact them and give us some feedback.

http://www.fordinsurance.com/home.html

My specific policy is a farmowners policy called Patrons Mutual Insurance Co. of CT. The policy covers all liability associated with my own dogs. The premium is very reasonable.

While there are specialty companies that will insure a show dog's life (they actually specialize in horses and will also do dogs), if a dog is with a handler, it should follow that THEIR insurance policy would cover their losing a client's dog.

Leslee Pope
Huntcrest

Hi. I contacted Ford Insurance (they are located in Maine), the policies that they underwrite are for boarding kennels. They will include Liability coverage for obdience training as well, either on your premises or if you go away from the premises. There is policy that they can write through Swett & Crawford for Breeders only and the minimum premium is $1500...this is also for General Liability only. None of these policies will cover Property (Dogs). AKC sells health insurance basically for dogs and there is some accident coverage built in.

There was a previous post about a kennel being covered on a farmowners policy, unfortunately none of our companies will write it this way as this is not a "farming pursuit". If you are lucky enough to be able to have your coverage written this way, then that is wonderful.

The problem I usually find is that each state is so different, companies are so different. You just have to search until you find the company that will fit your needs...in whatever you are doing.