Insuring a dog which has bitten before

[camshafted]

Hello,

I am thinking about 'rescuing' a dog from an animal home.

The animal we like it really nice natured, but records show that it came into the dogs home because it bit a child in a garden.

I think the child was teasing it and pulling on its temperamental ears and it bit the child on the hand. No blood, just bruising.

As a result, I think the police were called and the dog has ended up in the dogs home. I imagine a lot of dogs could bite when provoked enough by a youngster and a lot of parents will get rid of an animal after this has happened.

We'd like to do the nice thing and rescue it, but having had a look online, it seems a lot of insurance companies won't insure it because of this documented history.

Does anyone have any tips? As a (hopefully) responsible dog owner, I'd want a dog insured for vet bills etc.

Thanks.

[camshafted]

Thanks for the advice!

[KFC]

graphene said:

Somebody will insure it. I'd just stick the premium money in a 'dog day' savings account and live with it. Why worry about the history - let a knowledgeable trainer make that assesment? Good luck!

Edited by graphene on Tuesday 3rd June 12:28

Be very very careful with this!!

Most people just think of insurance for being for vet bills, medicine etc. A dog escaped from a garden a couple of miles from where I live, to cut a long story short (i made a thread about it at the time if anyone cares to read it) I hit it in my Cayenne.

I've just seen the bill... it was over 7000 euros. If it was a 7000 euro vet bill then you have the sad option of simply putting the dog down if you can't pay it. But if you owe a 3rd party that money then you're screwed... you'd need to have been putting money into a 'dog day' saving account for a long long time to get away with this.

imho going uninsured if completely unsuitable for someone who has to put the money away each month to pay potential bills from. I'd only consider it if you could just immediately pay any bills that came up. And bear in mind they could have been pretty brutal in my case... that was a collision that only involved my car, and a dog. No other people, cars, walls, etc etc. I also didn't claim anything medically, or make them give me a courtesy car. Think what it'd have cost if I wrote the car off, knocked down a wall, broke my leg, and hit a parked car...

[Jasandjules]

I can't see why health insurance would have an issue with this - they can always preclude anything which relates to the dog biting someone else?!!?

Your house insurance may also cover the dog - check with them.

[KFC]

Speculation here, but dogs which like to bite are more likely to get injured themselves in the process, and end up in vets themselves? Then owner being less than truthful as to what happened, to avoid any policy exclusions?

[anonymous-user]

Third party cover would be provided by dogs trust if you join, £25 a year membership if you wanted to go down that route.

[Jasandjules]

The way the anti-dog laws are going in this country I will be surprised if insurance doesn't sky rocket.