Unfortunately in most of the United States many homeowners and renters insurance companies will not insure you if you own certain breeds of dogs. The list of dogs which these companies are banning continues to grow and is of great concern to ALL pet owners, even if you do not own one of the banned breeds.


The list of the most commonly banned breeds are:

• Pit Bull Terrier "Type" (Including American Staffordshire, American Bull Terrier also know as the Target Dog etc.) All of these terrier "type" dogs are lumped into the same breed category by many insurance companies.
• Rottweiler
• Wolf or Wolf Hybrid
• Doberman Pinscher
• Akita
• Chow Chow
• Boxer
• German Shepherd
• Huskies
• Alaskan Malamute
• Great Dane
• St. Bernard
• Mastiff's (again all are lumped into one breed category by most insurance co's.)
• Presa Canarios

The actual list of which breeds are banned varies from company to company, but the above list includes some of the most common breeds which are blacklisted on a regular basis.

Some insurance companies are going as far as to insist you provide a written statement from your veterinarian that verifies that even MIXED BREED pets contain none of the above heritage.

From my personal experience in a recent search to find a new home owners policy, I was actually told by one of the many insurance companies I called that they would not insure ANY of my dogs. I knew going into the search that my Rottweiler would be a main focus, and that our Minature Bull Terrier would run second on the list and both be considered high risk. But imagine my surprise when I was told that my Border Collie/Australian Cattle dog mix would also be banned because of her cattle dog heritage and that my son's fuzzly little American Eskimo was too much like a malamute or a husky to be insured.

These are our dogs that some insurance companies WOULD NOT INSURE:

  
Rottweiler: Inky               Min Bull Terrier: Tucker   BC/ACD: Mika            Am. Eskie: Nemo

Shocked?
You shouldn't be, this has been happening for quite some time.

Not worried because you don't own any of the "blacklisted breeds"?
You SHOULD be worried. Continuing to support the companies listed that black list/ban ANY breed of dog could mean that your breed will end up there one day.

One of the best ways to counteract this practice is to NOT give your business to any insurance company that bans a dog based ONLY upon its heritage. Even if you don't own one of the listed breeds. Let's face facts, the ONLY way to make progress is to remove their ability to make money, these are businesses, they NEED your money to continue to operate. The whole basis of their reasoning is that it is not financially viable to insure these dogs. Let's make it so that it's not financially viable to EXCLUDE these dogs from insurance policies.