When you get a dog, you can’t wait to welcome it into your home. However, getting a pet means taking on a lot of new responsibilities. You cannot deny the fact that a beloved pet is still an animal, and sometimes they will react inappropriately, after all. 

If your pet were to harm someone, then you might have to compensate that party for their injuries. The good news is that your homeowners insurance might include the liability coverage to help you do so. However, even pet bite liability coverage might include exclusions for aggressive breeds, which is why you need to read your policy closely in order to know exactly where your benefits stand 

How Home Insurance Addresses Dog Breeds 

Your dog might be your best friend, but it’s still an animal and it can be very unpredictable. It often doesn’t take much prodding for your dog’s wild instincts to come out and, when they do, the results might not be pretty.

When your pet gets wild, it might bite someone or even do damage to someone else’s property. This is where they demonstrate the risk they pose to you by having them.

Suppose a friend gets bitten in a wrong place/wrong time injury. Under the circumstances, your friend might face significant medical bills, lost income and other recovery costs. They might request that you compensate them and some might also sue you. 

At this point, your home insurance’s liability coverage will provide coverage for your friend’s losses on the condition that you have a pet bite liability benefit within the plan. However, even with this coverage included, certain dog breeds might still be excluded from the policy.  

Some dog breeds have statistically higher risks of harming others and, as a result, some insurers consider them “aggressive” breeds that they cannot realistically cover. Even if your dog is well-trained and docile most of the time, your policy will not recognize this distinction. 

Minimizing Dog Bite Risks in Your Home 

Regardless of whether your home insurance plan covers your breed, there’s still a lot you can do to keep your risk of a pet bite occurring: 

• Be sure your dog is social with other dogs and humans beyond your family.
• Be sure your dog has a rabies vaccination.
• When you are out in public, put the dog on a leash;never have the dog out of your reach.
• Teach dogs to obey your commands through proper training.
• Never leave your dog unattended with strangers of any age.

Taking these steps protects both anyone who interacts with your dog and protects your pet, itself. In the end, you’ll create a more secure environment for everyone and reduce liabilities that might, at times, strain your home insurance.