{"id":4461,"date":"2018-04-03T16:40:55","date_gmt":"2018-04-03T20:40:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.insureyourcompany.com\/?p=4461"},"modified":"2018-04-03T16:40:55","modified_gmt":"2018-04-03T20:40:55","slug":"pets-can-affect-homeowners-insurance-rates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insureyourcompany.com\/blog\/pets-can-affect-homeowners-insurance-rates\/","title":{"rendered":"How Pets Can Affect Your Homeowner\u2019s Insurance Rates"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you’re picking a pet, you probably consider a number of questions:\u00a0Will it shed? What\u2014and how much\u2014will it eat? Will it bark (tweet, chirp, howl, meow)? Will it smell bad?<\/em><\/p>\n

There’s one more question that should be on this list, but all too often isn’t: Will a pet affect my homeowner’s insurance rates?<\/p>\n

Read on to discover which animal pals can impact your homeowner’s policy.<\/p>\n

Pets and Your Homeowner’s Policy<\/h2>\n

For many pet owners, that furry (or feathery, or scaly) friend is simply a member of the family. For a home insurer, however, pets may represent a potential liability. According to the Insurance Information Institute, dog bites and other dog-related injuries account for more than a third of all payouts on homeowner’s policies<\/a>. The average cost of these payouts is a whopping $33,000 per bite. Together, pet-related payout costs total more than $600 million per year\u2014a cost that has risen by more than 94 percent since 2003.<\/p>\n

These incidents aren’t all about bites. Fractures and injuries may occur when dogs knock down others, such as children, the elderly, or bicyclists. Given the high costs of such incidents, it’s not hard to see why home insurance providers must look at pets in an objective manner.<\/p>\n

Pet liability is a common issue, as a majority of American households do have pets. According to the 2017-2018\u00a0APPA\u00a0National Pet Owners Survey<\/a>, 68 percent of American households include pets. Of these, 60 percent own dogs and 47 percent own cats. Fish, birds, reptiles, and other small animals are among the next most commonly owned pets. Not surprisingly, most pet-related claims have to do with dogs.<\/p>\n

Dogs and Homeowner’s Insurance<\/h2>\n

Homeowner’s insurance often covers pet-related injuries,\u00a0but insurers may make decisions about pets and coverage based on dog breeds, and your dog’s breed may affect the type and price of a homeowner’s insurance policy.<\/p>\n

While some insurers may make coverage decisions on a case-by-case, pet-by-pet\u00a0basis, other\u00a0insurers may determine coverage based on statistics related to the average number of bites reported for specific breeds<\/a>. These numbers may change\u00a0based on breed popularity and geographic distribution, but certain breeds tend to be on the list year after year, including:<\/p>\n