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NO INSURANCE FOR CERTAIN BREEDS :(


Guest Anonymous

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Guest Anonymous

I'm not sure if this was posted before or not, but if any of you don't know..Allstate Insurance is not insuring owners of certain breeds, and those breeds are :

Pit Bulls
Staffies
Rotties
German Shepherds

I called them up and had a huge argument with the secretary..she told me that they always lose money to people owning these dogs because they bite people and children and blah blah blah...

Please write a letter to Allstate to let them know its wrong to discriminate like this...and there is no reason why all pit bull and staffy, etc owners need to suffer because of irresponsible idiots!

If you'd like to read the Toronto Humane Society's letter and response from Allstate on this issue, you can check it out at:

[url]http://www.torontohumanesociety.com/president.html[/url]
(its the last link and an Adobe Acrobat Reader file will open with the letters).

The contact information is....

[b]Michael Donoghue
President and CEO
Allstate Insurance Company of Canada
10 Allstate Parkway
Markham, ON
L3R P58
Canada[/b]

Even if you don't live in Canada, PLEASE PLEASE write them in and let them know that you won't let stupid policies and regulations control people that own these dogs...this is unfair and absolutely uncalled for!

Thanks for your help and support you guys... :cry:

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State Farm doesn't breed discriminate as long as your dog(any breed) is secured when not in the house. I almost had to give up my rescue due to no insurance coverage, but luckily I talked to a nice lady from State Farm and got a policy.

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[quote name='pitbulletta']I called them up and had a huge argument with the secretary..she told me that they always lose money to people owning these dogs because they bite people and children and blah blah blah...

[/quote]

Hmmm... you should have asked her if THEY, meaning HER office, always loses money, or if that statement was just in general? It just seems like such a blanket statement and smacks of urban legend. I HATE answers like, "well, it hasn't happened to US yet, but we've heard about it!" I'd be curious to find out just how many claims her particular office has had to settle because of these particular breeds vs. all others.

Or is it that people are much more likely to file a claim if it involves one of these breeds as opposed to less "menacing" (perceived) breeds?

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While I have very little love for the AKC, they do have an excellent page for homeowners info, with listings of insurance company's policies.

[url]http://www.akc.org/love/dip/legislat/insurance_chart0702.cfm[/url]

I have Allstate myself, and almost lost my homeowners because I have Siberians in my house and they are on the list. But, according to them, I'm grandfathered because I've had Allstate for 20 years, and Sibes during those years, which frankly makes no sense to me at all :roll: .

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I have Allstate. I checked, although admittingly a long time ago, and the policy was that (here) if your dog failed the "3 strike" law in this town, and was classified as a dangerous dog, they would hugely raise your rates, or make you get rid of the dog. first strike is the dog bites, causing injury. the dog them becomes a "potentially dangerous dog". if it bites again, even without serious inury, it is labelled as a "dangerous dog" and is required to be completely contained and walked with a muzzle. If it bites a third time, you go to court. and the dog can be put down. Allstate's policy here was that if the dog bites a second time, your rates go thru the roof. or you get rid of the dog. If even on the first strike (due to city law) if the dogs seriously mauls or kills anyone, it is automatically classified as a dangerous dog, and the rates go up or you get rid of the dog. I'll have to check with my agent tomorrow to see if the policy has changed. It may depend on area of the country, and if BSL is closd to being enforced.

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While it is nice when insurance companies do not have any breed restrictions, I guess I can't blame those that do. They're a business and they need to protect their own interests (including stockholders interests).

If their statisticians are telling them that people who own certain breeds [i]submit more claims[/i] than those who do not own those breeds, than I guess it makes sense to restrict coverage on those people.

I agree that the no bites rule makes sense and I would prefer insurance companies stick with that. Starting a letter writing campaign about it seems pointless though. What should I do if I'm a pit bull owner? Should I write them and tell them that I won't be giving them any of my money? Oh wait, they don't want it anyway... :-?

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Some random thoughts on the subject....
Regarding pit bulls, though the same applies to other breeds:
The media plays a part in the negative image of pit bulls.
Irresponsible owners play a part in the negative image of pit bulls.
Poor breeding plays a part in the negative image of pit bulls.
In my OPINION, breeding dogs to be dog aggressive because it supposedly reduces or eliminates human aggression is not doing a damned thing towards the positive image of pit bulls.
The general public is NOT going to understand or believe the distinction between gamebred, i.e. dog aggressive dogs and human aggressive dogs.
i.e., Pit bulls have an image problem. I do not see it improving any time soon without some major changes in the breed.
No matter how rock solid the temperament of YOUR dog is, the general public impression is that of a potentially dangerous dog.
A tiny dog, such as but not to pick on, the Chihuahua, does not present the same mental image in a bite situation as that of a large, powerful dog.
I do NOT believe in indiscriminate discrimanation by anyone or any company but companies exist to make money. If they percieve they 'may' lose money because of ANY factors within their control, they will take steps to preserve their dollars.
I do not believe in BSL, but the IMAGE of certain dogs that is perpetuated by the reasons above will contribute to it.
On a better note, my mom, who lives in MD, said she read that the county she lives in is considering lifting the ban on owning pit bulls.

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Guest Anonymous

[quote name='EMS66']Allstate is not the only one: Nationwide (unless your dog has a CGC), Travellers, and numerous others have similar policies.[/quote]

Well this makes me want to change my insurance to Nationwide. We say that the "muscle breeds" are "not for everybody," and need special care and training, and more than averagely responsible owners, right? What better way to enforce that than to say, we will insure pit bull owners, but only if they get a CGC on their dogs?

Fair for everybody and protects the dogs by giving the owners the message UPFRONT that they are going to be required to do more (albeit only minimally, since a CGC requires very little) to own these breeds.

primrose

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Guest Anonymous

[quote name='Carolk9s']Some random thoughts on the subject....
Regarding pit bulls, though the same applies to other breeds:
The media plays a part in the negative image of pit bulls.
Irresponsible owners play a part in the negative image of pit bulls.
Poor breeding plays a part in the negative image of pit bulls.
In my OPINION, breeding dogs to be dog aggressive because it supposedly reduces or eliminates human aggression is not doing a damned thing towards the positive image of pit bulls.
The general public is NOT going to understand or believe the distinction between gamebred, i.e. dog aggressive dogs and human aggressive dogs.
i.e., Pit bulls have an image problem. I do not see it improving any time soon without some major changes in the breed.
No matter how rock solid the temperament of YOUR dog is, the general public impression is that of a potentially dangerous dog.
A tiny dog, such as but not to pick on, the Chihuahua, does not present the same mental image in a bite situation as that of a large, powerful dog.
I do NOT believe in indiscriminate discrimanation by anyone or any company but companies exist to make money. If they percieve they 'may' lose money because of ANY factors within their control, they will take steps to preserve their dollars.
I do not believe in BSL, but the IMAGE of certain dogs that is perpetuated by the reasons above will contribute to it.
On a better note, my mom, who lives in MD, said she read that the county she lives in is considering lifting the ban on owning pit bulls.[/quote]

****************

I agree with most of this excellent post except people just keep repeating stuff like that "the general public" does not "understand or believe the distinction between" dog aggressive dogs and human aggressive dogs.

What this implies is that if people just "understood" that the dog next door was extremely dog aggressive, but not people aggressive, they wouldn't object to it. Well, guess what? People don't want to live next door to a dog who wants to kill their kids, but they ALSO don't want to live next door to a dog who wants to kill their pomeranian, even if he is great with their kids. People, generally, don't like dangerous dogs and dogs that potentially endanger their family members and that includes their canine family members.

Who here would think it was just dandy if a dog moved in next door who was capable of and wanted to kill your dogs?

primrose

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[quote]Who here would think it was just dandy if a dog moved in next door who was capable of and wanted to kill your dogs?[/quote]

Wouldn't bother me as long as they are as responsible with their dogs as I am with mine. My neighbors all know I have pit bulls, never a complaint from any of them! In fact, they ALL tell my how pretty & friendly my dogs are. There are several houses on my block with pit bulls in the yards, I've YET to see ANY of them running the streets or heard any complaints about them. I HAVE seen Chi's, Rat Terriers, Min pins, Huskies, you name it roaming the streets unleashed. Never a pit bull though. There's even a large long haired dog (NOT a pit bull but I don't know what it is) that has a nasty habit of jumping OVER my neighbor's fence to attack HIS bird dog.

Debby

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Guest Anonymous

EXACTLY..so why have these breed restrictions and bans? If you keep your dog under control and mind your own business..then there's no reason this crap should be happening...the only reason it is happening is because stupid people...and stupid GHETTO druggies have these dogs and DON'T take care of them and watch over them..so yeah they get into trouble and then every other pittie/rottie/GSD owner suffers because of it...it's not the breeds that should be controlled or banned, its the friggen rejects that own them that should be controlled and locked up!!!!!! :x

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Guest Anonymous

Majiesmom...yeah can you imagine hearing this one day?

"Uhm..yeah I was just trying to break into her house to jack that new wide screen TV she bought and then this huge dog just attacks me and bites my arm off...where is the justice? I hope I'm getting paid for this!"

:o

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Guest Anonymous

I have actually witnessed an APBT with a CGC title on it, very well trained attack a small dog in a womens arms. We were all standing on a street corner and the lady with the APBT had her dog sit beside her, the other lady had her little small dog in her arms. The next thing every one knew (it happened so fast) the APBT had grabbed the small dog and got the owner of the small dog as well. It was quite horrible, and the owner of the APBT (who was an obedience trainer) was very apologetic after the incident and paid for all vet bills. Mistakes can happen even to well trained dog aggressive dogs.

One more thing I would like to point out, dog aggression can be enhanced in breeds. Human aggression is 90 % environmental-which basically means you can breed for temperment in a dog, but, to breed for human aggression is not some thing you can control. Human aggression in dogs is mainly environmental developing from lack of socialization creating fearful dogs, a fearful bitch-pups pick up alot from dear old mom, lack of training etc.
Did you also know that a dog aggressive dog is more apt to be child aggressive?? if not properly socialized a dog which is genetically dog aggressive will view a child in the same way as a dog - due to them being appox. the same size. Dogs with high prey drive can also view children as prey.

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Guest Anonymous

A dog that is dog aggressive can be child aggressive as well? Sorry but I fail to believe that....not to mention, you said the dog attacked the lady as well? Pit Bulls aren't human aggressive..that's what they were specifically bred NOT to be, so I don't know how that happened...odd case I suppose...dog aggression in pit bulls is more common however...

The dog's background, the owner's background, their relationship, the dog's environment, health...everything needs to go into consideration in that case..I very highly doubt the dog just said to itself "well it looks like I'll attack that dog just for the hell of it"...there must have been some background information that you weren't aware of...I just can't find myself believing the dog would go ape crazy out of nowhere... It probably had a history of dog aggression to begin with.

As for the owner being a trainer..that doesn't say anything about how good of an owner she is..I've been training dogs for over a year but when I first got my own pit bull after that, I had to read up and do some research on it..and I'm still making mistakes up to date which I'm learning from...so being a trainer doesn't mean crap...

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[quote name='Anonymous']
Did you also know that a dog aggressive dog is more apt to be child aggressive??[/quote]
Of course. Note the sheer terror in these childrens' eyes as they struggle to keep this dog (and child, I'm sure) aggressive dog from mauling them
[img]http://img2.photobucket.com/albums/v11/gooeydog/May/kidsdalayoncouch.jpg[/img]

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[quote]Did you also know that a dog aggressive dog is more apt to be child aggressive?? if not properly socialized a dog which is genetically dog aggressive will view a child in the same way as a dog - due to them being appox. the same size. Dogs with high prey drive can also view children as prey.[/quote]

My dogs, as do MOST pit bulls, know the difference between people & prey, no matter the age or size of the person.

Debby

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