Insurance for dogs

[tom]

Evening ,
Can I ask the professional stalkers on here if their dogs are insured by themselves or there employee?
(Eg an estate they work for ?)
Obviously if you are self employed you pay your own insurance .
Also can anyone recommend an insurance for a full time deer dog ?
Many thanks
Tom

 

[MattW]

Hi Tom,

Little bit of background for you to think on, I have 38 working dogs at anyone time, Picking up dogs mainly but I do have a deer dog.

Last season I had an incident with 1 dog that needed stitches nothing really bad but a good rip on the flank what had 12 stitches and antibiotics for 5 days. (Barbed wire in some fern and briar couldn’t be seen)
Anyway dogs were all insured through a large shooting organisation not wanting to name them.
Policy was not cheap as our dogs are family anyway after treatment I put a claim having never done so before.
4 years had policy.
After 3 days I have a call to say that “Sorry we will not settle this claim as it was working”
Once the shock had hit me I asked what was the point in having the policy?
For working dogs?

Absolute waste of money and time no matter what I asked the question was it was working and we don’t cover a dog that was working.

Anyway I cancelled the policy straight away and now put away my policy amount each month just to have the incident covered should it be happen again.

Also reported it to the Shooting Organisation about the poor/none existent help, no further there either.

After all the above best advice I can offer is put your money somewhere safe and save it or read all small print on any policy should you take one out.

Best of luck with it all but please be very careful!

 

[3red dogs]

Whilst if doesn’t fit the title , I have a similar story.
Whilst salmon fishing, I broke 3 rods.
My broker said that they weren’t covered In use.
Make up the outcome yourself

 

[Beretta V]

I decided not to insure my dog when I had her and like above I put the money aside.
I luckily never had a large bill for her but I would have paid anything required.
I did look into insurance and basically it’s a farce if you use them for what they are bred for

 

[Wilbur]

Hi Tom,

Little bit of background for you to think on, I have 38 working dogs at anyone time, Picking up dogs mainly but I do have a deer dog.

Last season I had an incident with 1 dog that needed stitches nothing really bad but a good rip on the flank what had 12 stitches and antibiotics for 5 days. (Barbed wire in some fern and briar couldn’t be seen)
Anyway dogs were all insured through a large shooting organisation not wanting to name them.
Policy was not cheap as our dogs are family anyway after treatment I put a claim having never done so before.
4 years had policy.
After 3 days I have a call to say that “Sorry we will not settle this claim as it was working”
Once the shock had hit me I asked what was the point in having the policy?
For working dogs?

Absolute waste of money and time no matter what I asked the question was it was working and we don’t cover a dog that was working.

Anyway I cancelled the policy straight away and now put away my policy amount each month just to have the incident covered should it be happen again.

Also reported it to the Shooting Organisation about the poor/none existent help, no further there either.

After all the above best advice I can offer is put your money somewhere safe and save it or read all small print on any policy should you take one out.

Best of luck with it all but please be very careful!

Ive heard this a few times

 

[Glyn Walsh]

Out of interest I’ve just checked with my insurers and their response was,

 

[Selous]

I am not suggesting anyone tells any lies at all as that may constitute insurance fraud but if an injury occurs whilst a dog was in the woods or whilst exercising then just report what happened, eg dog tried to jump a fence and got caught on the barbed wire, fell down a slope, bitten by another dog etc. Why mention working if you are not directly asked? The Vet won’t give a toss if you were on a shoot or not but some people blurt it out like a badge of honour and when it gets written down in a clinical record it may invalidate your claim. To give another example your motor policy doesn’t cover for damage on a track day round Brands Hatch…..,,

 

[MattW]

Thanks for that Selous, Exactly what my original policy stated, however it is a very grey area (Hobby or Profession) we all shoot for sport, fill our freezers and sell to game dealers to cover some of our costs if we have spare, So where is the thin line?
I am sure most people myself included are happy to work with there dogs to help out a local estate in return I have stalking rights.

No money ever passes hands profession? Hobby I do think so but we all know if insurance companies can get out of paying they will….

 

[sh1kar]

This has got me thinking. I have self insured myself and the dogs for several years now and got a good fund built up I luckily haven’t needed. However what it won’t cover is third party liability

My dog bites the balls off a prize AI bull and terminates an otherwise lucrative career. Or it runs across a road and causes a fatal accident that kills four very high earning individuals. Their partners sue for loss of earnings. In the millions. Dog insurance covers this to say £10m. My self fund won’t stretch to that

Hmm

S

 

[deerstalker.308]

Mine have never worked a day in their lives, end of. Simples.

 

[shakey jake]

ive asked mine but they wont sign an employment contract!

 

[Selous]

This has got me thinking. I have self insured myself and the dogs for several years now and got a good fund built up I luckily haven’t needed. However what it won’t cover is third party liability

My dog bites the balls off a prize AI bull and terminates an otherwise lucrative career. Or it runs across a road and causes a fatal accident that kills four very high earning individuals. Their partners sue for loss of earnings. In the millions. Dog insurance covers this to say £10m. My self fund won’t stretch to that

Hmm

S

Would your household insurance not cover this?

 

[sh1kar]

Would your household insurance not cover this?

Not sure. Will check
S

 

[jb1]

Both our's are insured, working wise they are both pets 330 days a year, the remaining days they may participate in a bit of cheap labour that's not working as far as I'm concerned. Unfortunately one of them now requires regular medical treatment for what may have been an injury from years ago.
We make decisions, and make them on what we know at the time, for us it was the right one.

 

[Rhodesianjess]

We put the equivalent of insurance costs to one side every month,had insurance but when trying to claim the insurance company said not covered as dog working at the time.
Just had a £300 bill for one bitch,barbed wire again just paid the bill from put aside fund, it's actually cheaper.

 

[Bowland blades]

Too much by far and its a bubble that will burst , leaving us with very few vets trading reversing the trend.
We also allow crazy people to spend crazy money on high cost surgery , which is not the best thing for the animal . I know emotions are at play but dogs with wheels etc just doesn't sit right with me personally speaking
When the bubble starts to leak - it will cascade sharply as there investors are really all about the money

 

[Soulblazer737]

If the insurance paid out more than it took in, it wouldn't be in business. So on average, I suspect you'd be better off just setting money aside.

 

[Bowland blades]

If the insurance paid out more than it took in, it wouldn't be in business. So on average, I suspect you'd be better off just setting money aside.

The bubble will burst as regards insurance and vet practices . All its done imho is make a load of venture capitalists a S*** tonne of money" in the present" climate.

 

[Siggy]

I have my two younger dogs insured. My older dog I have a saving account and put a similar amount of money in there.

I am currently thinking about getting third party liability insurance, but this may be covered by my house hold insurance

 

[Ackers]

This has got me thinking. I have self insured myself and the dogs for several years now and got a good fund built up I luckily haven’t needed. However what it won’t cover is third party liability

My dog bites the balls off a prize AI bull and terminates an otherwise lucrative career. Or it runs across a road and causes a fatal accident that kills four very high earning individuals. Their partners sue for loss of earnings. In the millions. Dog insurance covers this to say £10m. My self fund won’t stretch to that

Hmm

S

I have just read my BASC shooting insurance. It appears to cover third-party claims made against you for all a list of BASC shooting and fishing activities, including "gundog working and training". It might be worth a call to them to make sure, but if that is the case, it supports "putting the money aside".