Insurance Payouts for Dog Bites are on the Rise

Insurance companies are now taking more precautions

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By Janessa Webb
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Story Created: May 23, 2012 at 4:54 PM AKDT

Story Updated: May 25, 2012 at 8:09 AM AKDT

ANCHORAGE - As the weather gets warmer more people and their pets are getting outside.

That's not always a good thing though. If you're a dog owner, you could end up paying big bucks when your furry friend becomes ferocious.

Insurance companies are now taking more precautions due to an overwhelming increase in dog bites.

"Dogs can do some really serious damage,” said Paul Huston, of Conrad Insurance. “If a large dog like that latches onto a small child it could be some really horrible results.”

The Department of Health and Social Services says when there is an increase of dog bites insurance companies have to give out more money.

According to some people, they don't bother to tell their insurance agent they have a dog at home.

With over $479 million paid for dog bite claims in the United States last year, some places are banning the so-called "aggressive" breeds.

But not everyone agrees it's the dog's fault if it bites.

"Just because you're a pit bull doesn't mean their prone to biting,” said Jacqueline Duke. “I think they have to be raised that way. I think it's up to the pet owner to be responsible.”

Even if your dog is a big breed, with a reputation of being aggressive, it seems to be more important to know what triggers those behaviors and try to maintain a calm and healthy environment for you and your pet.

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Robin Scheff said on Thursday, May 24 at 7:56 AM

The insurance companies need to hire me to do an assessment of these dogs to see which ones are going to be more likely to bite someone, and then get the dog and owners working on the dog's aggressive and territorial tendencies, or to take other action to prevent a particularly defensive, more aggressive dog from actually getting the opportunity to bite someone. Often the owners are just very very ignorant about what the dog is communicating. Most of these dogs are communicating every single day that they want to bite people who come into their space, or even bite their owners. With some insight from a professional dog whisperer, they could actually prevent this from ever happening. This will decrease the number of dog bites significantly.

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