Dog Bit Somebody, Umbrella Policy Cancelled

My irresistibly-cute little Shi* zhu (shitzhu, shitzu, various other spellings) dog bit the hand of somebody who reached down to pet her. This occurred when she was on a leash, being walked in the neighborhood. And, actually, it happened on two separate occasions, to two separate persons. Neither one of these adult neighbors required medical treatment beyond hydrogen peroxide and a band-aid.

One day I was talking to my insurance company about an unrelated matter, and (out of the blue) the rep asked, "Do you have a dog?" Yes, I answered. "Has it ever bitten anyone?"

As soon as I answered (truthfully) that she had, I knew that bad things were going to happen.

Sure enough, a few days ago I received a notice in the mail stating that my umbrella policy was being cancelled. Except for hail damage to a roof, I have never made a claim on the policy in the couple of decades that I've had it.

Has this happened to others here, and any suggestions? Is it difficult to get a new policy if your old one has been cancelled?

Note: We now firmly warn people not to pet the dog.

austex said: Is it difficult to get a new policy if your old one has been cancelled?

Probably best to start practicing the following words: "We used to have an irresistibly-cute little dog ..."

Your first mistake was being honest with your insurance agent.

ifyouhavetoask said: Your first mistake was being honest with your insurance agent.

Nah. I'm guessing there's more to this story.

I'm guessing if he was asking verbally that somewhere in the policy it says that dogs void said policy. In any case I would read any policy very carefully to make sure it covered dog incidents.

Your dog should be put to sleep. If a human attacked two separate people on two separate occasions, they would be in prison.

austex said: Actually, that is the entire story.

OK, I'll bite.

1. How old was the first bite victim?

2. How long was it between the first and second biting?

3. How old was the second victim?

4. When you say neither required medical treatment, is that because they told you so or is this your presumption?

5. Do you know for a fact that neither victim sought professional medical treatment for the biting and that neither sought professional medical treatment for any other condition (pre-existing or not) subsequent to the biting?

6. How long was it between the 2nd biting and the conversation with your agent?

edit: corrected grammar

I guess being "irresistibly-cute" can get away with lots of bitings. BBB is right, the dog should be taken care of.

I don't understand the attitude of insurance companies.

Dog bite claims are skyrocketing? Then add a clause and charge for it.

Problem solved.

Separately, if some states consider some dogs "vicious" (legal definition, nontheless), then these states should simply prohobit having such a dog as a pet.

IMO - and this is strictly my opinion - dogs such as pit bulls are too dangerous to be had as pets.

I bit the neighbors dog before. I still have my insurance.

Can't you change insurance carriers altogether, try to duplicate what you had w/o the extra 'information' going out to the new agent?

Since you know your dog bites now and put in the position of warning everyone not to pet it, it is quite a liability. All it will take is someone deaf/hard of hearing or a little kid or baby to get attacked and you could be in some serious trouble. Can you get it into some kind of training, to help reduce the chance of it happening again?

Yo Ma-Ma said: Can't you change insurance carriers altogether, try to duplicate what you had w/o the extra 'information' going out to the new agent?

And your answer to the question "have you ever had insurance canceled or non-renewed" would be?

tripleB said: Your dog should be put to sleep. If a human attacked two separate people on two separate occasions, they would be in prison.Bite me. And then bit me again.

Woof!

My son got bit by a small dog when we first moved here. It happened near a laundromat, someone had told my son to try to pet the dog and he wasn't stopped before it was too late - ok son was 5 and hadn't been 'properly trained' on approaching a dog you don't know. But it was the second time this dog had bit someone so the owners were fined and the dog was put to sleep. FYI it was someone at the laundromat that called the police, and my son was looked at by a doc who just cleaned and covered the wound on his ear. The dog was not on a leash but did have a rabies shot.

And now 2 houses down from us are two little dogs that the owners keep letting out, they both come and bark at us in our yard and we have tried telling them about the leash law to no avail.

Also perhaps of note we had 2 small dogs Chihuahua-shit-zhu mix and just gave away the male. He was very much a gaurd dog and would bark and try to bite the kids friends when they came over... not too much a problem but our lovely son now 8 would not stop bugging the dog, trying to pet him at all hours even while he was sleeping and not leaving him alone when he growled. So before the dog could bite our son we decided to give him away and he is doing fine in another home. (And yes our son is in counselling for behavior issues) The girl we have left is very mellow and quiet. Don't need a gaurd dog anyway.

ifyouhavetoask said: Your first mistake was being honest with your insurance agent.any insurance predicated on a lie is essentially no insurance once the facts come out.

jojogoes212 said: My son got bit by a small dog when we first moved here.

ok son was 5 and hadn't been 'properly trained'

not too much a problem but our lovely son now 8 would not stop bugging the dog, trying to pet him at all hours even while he was sleeping and not leaving him alone when he growled.

So before the dog could bite our son we decided to give him away

Maybe you should try giving the son away. He seems to be the common denominator, not the dog.

Ok so let's be simple-your options are
1)try getting a new insurance policy with another company, and lie this time, and if another bite occurs pray to god they don't find out about the prior bites
-this is risky, if the dog bites someone else, and heaven forbid the dog mangles an infant somehow (I know I know one in a million, but it's gotta happen to someone, and this stuff DOES happen), and you lost your insurance, good luck, you've just screwed up your life- see you on the local news

2)put the dog to sleep
-hurts emotionally but that's it, get a new dog

I love dogs as much as the next dude, but a dog is a dog. The smartest coolest dog it worth infinitely less than human life. And lying on your insurance to protect the dog could end up backfiring big time.

BEEFjerKAY said: Crazytree said: in most states the dog gets one free bite.

Might want to check again.My subscription to the Journal of Dog Bite Law expired a few years ago.

Crazytree said: My subscription to the Journal of Dog Bite Law expires a few years ago.

There was just a FAR 6 month subscription but shipping killed the deal.

tripleB said: tolamapS said:
IMO - and this is strictly my opinion - dogs such as pit bulls are too dangerous to be had as pets.

So the OP's shitzu that has repeatedly attacked people has more of a right to be a pet than a pitbull that has never attacked anyone?

Pitbulls can be trained to be aggressive, but they are not aggressive genetically. Laws against pitbulls are the same as laws against short-barrel shotguns and butterfly knives. A .45 handgun is ridiculously more deadly than a short-barrel shotgun but movies portrayed SBS as deadly so laws were made against them. Butterfly knives are slower to open than a regular spyderco folding knife, but they are illegal because movies and TV depict them as "deadly."

In "less civilized" countries laws are based on "God," and in "more civilized" countries, laws are based on Hollywood.

Well, again, I have my opinions, you have your opinions, and we have statistics.

Which dogs are more likely to be more aggressive and cause injuries requiring serious medical care? On average?

If you condition that on "good" dogs, then obviously, there will be less injuries in general.

However, conditioning the inury / accident number on the number of "good" dogs is merely selective statistics.

FYI - I said nothing about the right of one kind of dog to be more of a pet. I expressed my personal opinion about the danger of having a particular type of dog as a pet.

Secondly, if a state marks a certain type of dog as vicious, then that state should simply ban that dog from becoming one's pet - legally.

And lastly - if the little shitshu gets violent and tries to bite you, you can kick its ass to the other world with your boot or a large bat or something. If the pitbull goes crazy, I think it might be you who ends up going to the other world.

Look, I know some people like to have pit bulls, snakes, elephants, and tigers as pets, but I am a realist and I remember our friend Darwin very well.

Interesting discussion. I was attacked by our Golden Retriever when I was a babe (have a scar on my face to this day) and aside from not remembering it because I was too young, I've always been around dogs. I think there's a difference in how you perceive a dog if you've been around them for awhile vs never before.

I always put my hand out to let them smell me just for the fact that I want to pet them and if I don't let them smell me they get scared.

I remember when I was a kid following a beautiful sable Siberian Husky up the street and after realizing it wasn't going to bite me, grabbed its collar and took it home to find the owners. Happened with a Goldie and a bunch of other dogs, my parents sort of instilled in me that dogs/pets running in the neighborhood were lost and their owners were probably worried sick looking for them.

I think the best policy is if the dog is in a yard and is screaming its head off like it wants to eat your face, don't go near it. Otherwise, if you're cautious and also if the owner is nearby and tells you it's OK I say go for it.