German Shepherds and Home Insurance Providers

[Orlando Paulitician]

A friend of mine gifted me a GS he wasn’t able to adequately care for, a 10 month old pup.

Does anyone have any negative experience with home insurers and owning this breed of dog?

A little bit of googling showed GS on a list of 15 dogs insurers look out for, but that really doesn’t tell me much.

I’m new to both home ownership and GS ownership, so Im not sure what to expect.

The dog literally barks at EVERYTHING, people, other dogs, et cetera.

But he relaxes and becomes friendly once he gets a chance to sniff them.

I’m just worried that when the home insurance inspector comes by, having a large barking dog is going to raise red flags with them.

Im considering taking the dog to training, perhaps Pet Smart or something.

But he would go wild before we even step foot in the door.

I’ve already had to switch insurers once because of some dated wiring in the house (cloth wiring?)

[rentprop1]

if the dogs on the list, be sure your insurance will go up once they find out, things like posts on social media etc are a dead giveaway.

look into dog training, I have a girlfriend who has a 120 lb GS thats is a real terror , she's only 5'03 and can't control that dog, she doesn't listen and the dog doesn't listen...she can't even walk her and its only gettin worse

hit up LX460 if he's ever on the forum, he has a couple of them

[Chigger]

The dog needs training and not at some death camp like pets mart.
Its easy to do, just takes a bit of time and effort.

I've had Pits and GS and Dobermans all my life. Never had a home inspector come by and never told my insurance co because they never asked. Never volunteer info.

If your worried have someone watch it the day the inspector comes by, but get it trained. An untrained dog can be dangerous.
My kids and grand kids grew up climbing all over my dogs and they put up with a lot of ear tugging and such and never growled once.

[Benaj]

I have kept my home insurance I had before I got the GS.

Tried to change to save $$$ and no dice. They all ask if you have a dog.

The ones that allow a GS where 1-2k more annually.

I didn’t think about it when I got the dog. Will change what dogs I get in the future!

[Clyde621]

Number 1 GET IT TRAINED. I'm in the training process now with my new golden retriever. Great trainer, training k9s for over 30 years. Certified for recovery, search-rescue. Not the cheapest but in training you usually get what you pay for. If you get hauled in court over a bad dog attack I guarantee your training cost will be a lot cheaper. Plus you and your dog will be happy. Just my $.02

[jjk308]

Training ASAP! The only sort of dog who is really a problem, tough to train, are fear biters. Your dog isn't but you need to do it as early as possible. If you can't, give him to someone who can take care of him properly.

[Dave P]

I picked a runt GSD a year ago.

Coincidentally, Insurance coverage ran out (agent never called me!) and will not renew because of dog.

I am all for not offering info, they all ask about dogs (also do not like horses). But if you ever have a claim, they will probably not cover you, because you lied to them about the dog.

qqqqqqqqqqqqqqq

I think I am the 4th owner of this 4 y/o working GSD. Male, fixed, 60 lbs, quite stubborn.

He is not a biter, but he does bark at anything that excites him. Call me cruel if you want, but the anti-bark shock collar works well on breaking the barking/aggression reactions. And for less than 10$, you get a hands-off collar, with a processor in there for "intelligence".

When barking starts, the collar beeps. Beeps get longer the more he barks, until the shock system kicks in. Something like 7 levels of feedback in there. Works pretty darn well. Have not used it for a few days, but Sammy still threatens the horses and my son, next door. Stubborn!

[Ger42]

Over the years I have had a company try to cancel my policy because I had Pit-bulls. Had to get a letter from my vet saying dogs were not Pit-bulls. A lot of ins companies have list of dogs if you have one on the list they won't insure you. One ins company dropped me because they added Cataloula to the list and one of my dogs is a Catahoula mix.

[REDinFL]

Remember that insurance companies have teams of accountants and lawyers whose sole purpose is to deny. Everything they see or you say will be documented. When there is a claim, the adjuster's function is to mitigate or deny. NEVER lie on the forms, as you are handing them a blanket denial on a silver platter.

[Orlando Paulitician]

I like all the people telling me to get him trained after I said I was looking into training, but didn't offer a single recommendation on where to get good training.

Give him up to someone who will take better care of him? His first owner kept him chained to a tree all day and underfed. I think I am taking better care of him.

Number 1 GET IT TRAINED. I'm in the training process now with my new golden retriever. Great trainer, training k9s for over 30 years. Certified for recovery, search-rescue. Not the cheapest but in training you usually get what you pay for. If you get hauled in court over a bad dog attack I guarantee your training cost will be a lot cheaper. Plus you and your dog will be happy. Just my $.02

Would you happen to have contact info/cost info on the trainer you're using?

I probably need to be trained to be a trainer as much as the dog needs training.