Ending Breed-Specific Insurance Discrimination

Ensuring Homeowners with Pets Have Equal Access to Property Insurance

At a time of unprecedented housing challenges, the cost and availability of property insurance is often an unnecessary barrier to housing for responsible dog owners across the country.

This is because the vast majority of property-insurance providers significantly increase the cost of premiums or deny property insurance coverage for customers who have specific breeds of dogs.

The range of dog breeds captured by this arbitrary practice is alarming, including many common and beloved breeds such as Labrador Retrievers, Boxers, Giant Schnauzers, German Shepherds, Chows, Great Danes, Alaskan Malamutes and more. This causes many thousands of responsible dog owners to be burdened with harsh financial and emotional consequences.

This practice is unjustified and unsupported by data. There is also no evidence to support that insurance claims for the prohibited breeds are financially significant for insurance carriers relative to other paid losses.

Homebuyers are required to obtain property insurance coverage as a prerequisite to obtaining a mortgage. Yet many insurance companies refuse to provide coverage for dog owners of certain breeds, which puts customers in the position of having to choose between owning a home and their family pet.

Throughout 2021, we’ve worked in Nevada and New York to successfully advance groundbreaking state laws that prohibit property insurance companies from denying coverage for families with specific breeds of dogs. These states now require insurance companies to treat each dog as an individual, taking into account objective factors such as if the dog has a bite history. 

We believe that no one should have to choose between their well-behaved dog or their home. It should no longer be legal for property insurance providers to inflate their rates, deny coverage or place burdensome conditions on coverage for customers based on the type of dog they have. If you feel the same, join our Advocacy Brigade to stay tuned for ways to help advance legislation to prohibit this practice for good.