Top Dogs Underinsured?
By Caroline McDonald
NU Online News Service, Feb. 11, 4:45 p.m. EST?Owners of top show dogs, like those displayed at this week's Westminster Kennel Club, may be obsessive about brushing and exercising their dogs, but they do nothing much to insure the animals, according to industry experts.[@@]
Even though thousands of dogs are bred and trained each year for competition, few are insured beyond health coverage?possibly because of a show environment that has lately become less dog-eat-dog, according to Ken C. Davies.
"There are not a lot of dogs insured, primarily because of cost," said Mr. Davies, who owns Davies Consulting in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and is a correspondent with Lloyds of London. He said he used to work with Burns & Wilcox in the United States when more policies were written.
Mr. Davies noted that an all risk and mortality insurance policy, which covers accidents, sickness and disease and transportation to show, costs about 12.5 percent annually of the value of the dog for a male and 15 percent for a female. Many of the dogs insured are valued at more than $10,000, he said.
He added that a good number of the dogs currently being insured are seeing-eye dogs, dogs used for sniffing out drugs in airports and police dogs, whose value can be as much as $40,000.
"That's where many of the value dogs are today," he said. "We don't have many strictly show dogs, and I think that is because the show scenario has somewhat changed."
At one time dog shows were very competitive, and dogs were "poisoned, run over, had their legs broken or would disappear," he noted. "I don't think that happens as much today. Society is more aware of those things and they have microchips for tracking, and I think the ethical aspects are better than they used to be."
Mr. Davies added that as well as all risk and mortality policy, owners can buy a short-term policy which covers dogs being sent to another country for breeding, for example.
Dogs must be at least six months old to be insured and up to an average of seven years, depending on the breed. He noted that most of his clients are in Canada.
The American Kennel Club in New York, which is made up of 50 breed organizations, said it offers a health plan by Pet Partners Inc., underwritten by State National Insurance Company. The plan is available in the 50 states and allows pet owners the option of selecting from two levels of coverage for their pet based on need.
The organization said it also offers a free 60-day pet health care policy to anyone registering a dog. The policy offers injury coverage for the first 30 days and injury and illness coverage for the next 30 days, including diagnostic procedures and laboratory tests, according to AKC.
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