Amy Danise is the managing editor for the insurance section at Forbes Advisor, which encompasses auto, home, renters, life, pet, travel, health and small business insurance. She is a highly experienced editor, writer and team leader with an extensive.
Amy Danise Managing Editor, InsuranceAmy Danise is the managing editor for the insurance section at Forbes Advisor, which encompasses auto, home, renters, life, pet, travel, health and small business insurance. She is a highly experienced editor, writer and team leader with an extensive.
Written By Amy Danise Managing Editor, InsuranceAmy Danise is the managing editor for the insurance section at Forbes Advisor, which encompasses auto, home, renters, life, pet, travel, health and small business insurance. She is a highly experienced editor, writer and team leader with an extensive.
Amy Danise Managing Editor, InsuranceAmy Danise is the managing editor for the insurance section at Forbes Advisor, which encompasses auto, home, renters, life, pet, travel, health and small business insurance. She is a highly experienced editor, writer and team leader with an extensive.
Managing Editor, Insurance Mike Cetera Editor in Chief, Forbes Marketplace U.S.Mike Cetera is the editor in chief for Forbes Marketplace U.S. Mike has written and edited articles about mortgages, savings accounts, CD rates and credit cards for more than a decade. Prior to joining Marketplace, his work appeared on Bankrate, The.
Mike Cetera Editor in Chief, Forbes Marketplace U.S.Mike Cetera is the editor in chief for Forbes Marketplace U.S. Mike has written and edited articles about mortgages, savings accounts, CD rates and credit cards for more than a decade. Prior to joining Marketplace, his work appeared on Bankrate, The.
Mike Cetera Editor in Chief, Forbes Marketplace U.S.Mike Cetera is the editor in chief for Forbes Marketplace U.S. Mike has written and edited articles about mortgages, savings accounts, CD rates and credit cards for more than a decade. Prior to joining Marketplace, his work appeared on Bankrate, The.
Mike Cetera Editor in Chief, Forbes Marketplace U.S.Mike Cetera is the editor in chief for Forbes Marketplace U.S. Mike has written and edited articles about mortgages, savings accounts, CD rates and credit cards for more than a decade. Prior to joining Marketplace, his work appeared on Bankrate, The.
| Editor in Chief, Forbes Marketplace U.S.
Updated: Apr 2, 2024, 12:06pm
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Aside from natural disasters and water, the three things that give home insurance companies agita are dogs, pools and trampolines. Basically anything fun.
The problem with dogs is the expensive liability claims against the dog owners. Homeowners insurance pays out for dog bites or other dog-related injuries—such as a fall when a dog jumps on someone or runs at them. The average dog bite claim has been around $44,760, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
To rein in costs, top home insurance companies have lists of banned dogs—cases where the insurer won’t provide coverage if a customer owns the breed. Not all home insurers have strict lists of banned dog breeds. Some take dog bite problems on a case by case in deciding whether to offer insurance to the owner.
We analyzed banned dog breed lists from 42 homeowners insurance companies across the nation to find the most frequently banned breeds. These lists are often hidden from consumers’ view in filings made by insurers to state insurance departments.
Pit bulls, as defined by insurance companies, generally encompass Bull Terriers, Staffordshire Bull Terriers, American Bull Terriers and American Staffordshire Terriers, or any combination of these breeds.
Not all home insurance companies have official lists of restricted dog breeds. Many decide whether to cover a household with a problematic dog on a case-by-case basis.
But among insurers with banned breed lists, the lists can be found within filings made by home insurance companies to state insurance departments. It’s a rogues’ gallery of so-called bad breeds who scare people, bite and knock kids off bikes.
The home insurers’ “banned breeds” lists are long and include dogs you’d expect, like Rottweilers, some you might not expect, like German Shepherds and rarer breeds like Alaskan Malamutes. Pit bulls of all types top the list.
Many major insurers’ filings specifically state that coverage won’t be provided to households where these dogs live. And they won’t renew a policy if the presence of a “vicious dog” is discovered in the home.
Dog advocates—led by the Animal Defense League, American Kennel Club, Best Friends Animal Society, Humane Society and others—are fighting back. They say it’s wrong for home insurance companies to discriminate against dogs due to breed. In a plea to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), they raise an even bigger question: If insurers discriminate against the dog, do they also discriminate against the owner?
“The use of breed lists has a detrimental impact on three groups—uninformed consumers, people of color, and consumers of low or moderate means,” say these dog advocates in their request to NAIC, the rule-setting organization for American insurance companies. The groups contend that:
The dog advocate groups want a moratorium on “banned breed lists.” An NAIC spokesperson said the request would be reviewed at the group’s spring 2021 meeting.
Home insurance companies defend their banned breed lists.
“Each year there are an alarming number of vicious injuries and fatal attacks against humans by certain breeds of dogs,” says Karen Collins, vice president of the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA), a lobbying group for the industry. “And children comprise half of the dog bite victims.”
The number of dog bite claims fluctuates each year, with a recent high in 2017 of 18,522 claims, according to the Insurance Information Institute. Dog bite claims dropped in 2020 to 16,991, but with an average cost per claim of $50,245.
The cost of settling those claims is close to $800 million, says Collins. Dog advocates regard this as a “drop in the bucket” because it represents less than 2% of insurers’ liability losses.
But the dog-bite trend worries insurers. Medical costs for reconstructive surgery and legal costs for court litigation have risen by about 15% in just a single year, says Collins.
Sophia Buchan of Aberdeen Township, New Jersey, was walking with her young children and black Labrador retriever when a pit bull emerged from an unfenced yard and lunged at her son. Her dog intervened and nearly lost a leg. The owner called the dog off but never came out of his house.
She has since sued to recover $8,100 in veterinary bills. When Buchan filed her police report, she was told that the owner was “known to police” for raising vicious animals. Despite her experience she has no animosity toward pit bulls. “I see them at the vet and they’re totally fine,” she said.
The owner still hasn’t put up a fence, she added.
Insurance companies aren’t the only ones engaging in dog breed discrimination. States, cities and even local municipalities have their own lists that are often different and even contradictory to one another. It’s called “Breed Specific Legislation” or BSL.
BSL began in the 1980s in response to several fatal dog attacks, according to PetPlace, an information website. These laws equate the qualities of a dangerous dog with certain breeds, and ban or restrict them based on group, not on any offense the individual dog committed.
They “make no concession for therapy dogs, assistance dogs or search and rescue dogs,” notes PetPlace.
Dog advocates challenge the evidence behind BSL, which includes a now-aging study by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that examined dog bites from 1979 through 2003. They say the study was flawed by the random way in which data was collected, much of it from newspaper reports. In many instances, the animal’s breed couldn’t be identified if, in fact, it even named one.
And “some dogs breeds are deliberately mislabeled to increase the possibility of adoption,” according to one study.
But many insurers believe they’re justified in their coverage bans, especially against larger dogs and, most especially, against pit bulls. “Certain breeds can bite with the force averaging 1,000 pound per square inch,” says the APCIA’s Collins, “enough to severely injure a child or adult in seconds.” As a result, “we oppose efforts that would require the insurer to wait for a potentially devastating personal injury loss before deciding whether to provide or continue coverage.”
Insurers have conducted their own studies that show which breeds do the most damage, and justifiably exclude certain breeds, says Loretta Worters of the Insurance Information Institute, which compiles information on dog bites.
“Insurers do not discriminate against people of color and consumers of low or moderate means,” emphasizes Worters. Banned dog breed lists are based on insurance claims, she says.
Not all insurers have developed banned dog lists.
“State Farm does not ask what breed or type of dog a person owns when writing policies,” says Heather Paul, a spokesperson for the nation’s largest home insurer, and the owner of two pit bulls.
Instead, State Farm looks at the dog’s history. “Any dog, regardless of breed, can bite, and most bites are the perfect storm of situation and circumstance,” Paul says. “People often put themselves and others at risk, and dogs are blamed. That’s why State Farm focuses on dog bite prevention education rather than breed restrictions.”
One thing is certain: State and local laws, as well as home insurers’ restrictions, have a severe impact on pit bulls, the most commonly banned dog breed. An insurer’s refusal to underwrite policies for families with these dogs, as well as discriminatory BSL laws, will result in their “abandonment or relinquishment to a shelter,” according to the dog advocates’ study.
There’s “already staggering . . . animal overpopulation and pet homelessness” in the nation’s largest state, California, according to its insurance commissioner, Ricardo Lara. And there are worries about what will happen to thousands of new “pandemic pets” when the pandemic is over.
Hamilton, New Jersey resident Joe Mihalyi, whose son owns a pit bull, visited several dog shelters looking for a pet, and came away amazed at what he saw. “Nine of the 10 dogs we saw in the cages were pit bulls,” he says. “They had scarred faces and marks all over them.”
“You could sense that they just wanted to be loved and we wanted to adopt one,” says Mihalyi, “but since we’d never know what they’d been through, we just couldn’t take the chance.”
More than a million and a half dogs and cats are put to death each year, according to the ASPCA. And many of them, at least 400,000, are pit bulls. Best Friends Animal Society provides community-level data on how well animal shelters are doing at saving cats and dogs.
Some insurers ban certain dog breeds, while others provide wiggle room for pets already in the home, and still others will simply ignore the issue for rich clients who bring good business, according to the dog advocate groups. Others, like State Farm, allow all dogs provided there’s no “bite history.”
The APCIA’s Collins advises you to contact your home insurance company before bringing a dog home. If you face a loss of coverage because of your dog choice, “You can shop around for a different insurer or consider a different breed,” she suggests.
Both homeowners and renters insurance policies generally cover dog-bite legal expenses, with typical liability coverage ranging from $100,000 to $300,000, according to the Worters at the Insurance Information Institute. In addition to that, she recommends purchasing a personal umbrella insurance policy, “which in today’s litigious society is an important thing to have.” These policies provide an extra $1 million and up of protection.
PetPlace provides a state-by-state list of “banned species” laws. Some states do not allow insurers to ban breeds. For example, Vermont “does not allow the exclusion of entire canine breeds.” Many other states have introduced similar legislation and home insurers are required to obey each state’s laws.
If you’re the owner of a pet that has seriously bitten someone, call animal control and contact your insurer. “Get your dog’s medical records from your veterinarian,” says State Farm’s Paul, and be sure to have proof of a rabies vaccination.” A bite doesn’t necessarily mean your home insurance policy won’t be renewed, but there will likely be an investigation.
Passing the Canine Good Citizen test from the American Kennel Club could also help your effort to keep you (and your dog) properly insured.
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