Homeowners Insurance

[bearsdaddy55]

Hello to all. I'm new to this posting thing, and I just joined the ChowChow.org today. I'm looking for more current information on homeowner insurance problems and state laws against them. My wife & I found out a few weeks ago that our home owners insurance is going to be canceled @ the end of Oct. because I quote "Your pet(s) increase(s) the potential for liability claims". We live in WA. and I saw on some of the posts last night about HB 1016. I looked it up, all it says is that it 'prohibits ins. co. from taking specified underwriting actions based on whether of not the applicant or insured owns of harbors a dangerous dog as defined by current law'.. All of the posts that I checked out last night were from several years ago, is there anything more current.
We, have two kids both are blond, his name is Bear, and he's seven now, we've been his mom & dad since he was six weeks old. He used to go shopping @ Home Depot with us until he wouldn't fit in the child seat anymore. When he was 2 his sister joined the family, she is a rescue & just so full of love and affection. Her name is Baby Girl, she's part chow, part collie, & she will just smother you with purple kisses.
I do agree with one post that I read last night, 'the dog may bite, but that's only while I'm getting my shotgun'.
Again, any information will be of great help, and I'm sorry if I rambled a bit, and all of the photos on the boards are just beautiful.

[Victory]

Last year after my apartment got flooded I searched for renters insurance and ran into a lot of the same kind of thing, lots of companies wouldn't insure because of my chows, I finally got insurance with State Farm who I think is nation wide. They ask if you have dogs but not what kind they are and only ask if they have ever bit anyone.

I don't know about a company simply cancelling your insurance seems to me they would have to give you the option of paying a higher premium, but then they could change their policy to a "we will not insure anyone with XYZ breeds of dogs." You could ask for a list of dogs, and then get together with owners of those breeds in your area and try to fight it with negative publicity. These insurance companies make millions every year and this tactic is costing them nothing, but costing some dogs their lives when people can't afford the increased premiums or find an insurance company that will insure house with certain breeds. This is another form of breed discrimination and needs to be stopped.

[GoHokiesGo]

There's a list of several dog breeds that are blacklisted by most insurance companies. You'll probably need to call around to a few different companies and ask. We also found that State Farm doesn't discriminate based on the breed you have, and I think there are a few others.

http://www.insure.com/articles/homeinsu ... wners.html

It's truly unfortunate that insurance companies do this, but I guess there are a few breeds that get that bad wrap (ours included ) I also wish that you'd be able to bring your dog somewhere to show that they have a good temperament since so many of these dogs can be super friendly when properly raise, and not just Chows but all of those breeds. We've needed to switch our insurance as well, but it's a necessary action to get our girl to us.

[kingalls]

Looks like State Farm is the best option....At one point I was going to update my insurance with AAA and they did ask me if I owned a pit bull or rottie - I said no and did not offer more information - I would just say that I have a couple of mutts since I know mine are not purebreds....

http://www.examiner.com/x-2469-Atlanta- ... strictions

[chewfozz]

I had this same problem when I moved from NJ to VA. I had two chows at the time and I basically told them they were mixes, which wasn't a total lie since I never bought them from a breeder and it is "possible" that they could have been mixed. If I did not do that then they would have made me carry an extra 100,000 to cover any incidents because Chows are on their dangerous dog list.

This type of discrimination is rediculous. I think ANYTHING with teeth could be dangerous. I have known chows for the past 15 years and have never had an issue. I HAVE been bitten by a Shitzu and a rotty.

So sorry you have to go through this.