Mans Best Friend!

Annual veterinary bill: $125

Dog food for a year: $300

Cost of a single, unexpected attack on a neighbor: $1,000,000 and felony prosecution. . .

            Those of us who have dogs already know that their companionship is priceless. We call dogs "man's best friend" for good reason - they're lovable, patient, fun, friendly, entertaining, and fairly inexpensive - some of the same traits we wish were more common in the people we know. Did you know, though, that your dog could cost you your house, and maybe even your freedom? In an article she wrote for MSN Money, Liz Pulliam Weston explains how an attack from a beloved family dog could cost that dog's owners a million dollars or more and even land them in jail. Weston quotes the Insurance Information Institute as saying that the average cost of a dog attack last year was $24,511 - and that that number is getting bigger!

            Weston goes on to give readers a lot of good, common-sense advice about breed selection, training, fence-building, and so forth, but the parts of the article that stick out are the need to admit that even your lovable dog could attack someone and the need to insure yourself against that possibility.

1. Be honest with your insurer about having a dog and about the breed of the dog. Withholding information could void your policy, leaving you without any coverage.
2. Make sure that you have umbrella coverage for twice your net worth, in case you become one of those people whose dog does attack someone this year. Weston estimates that a $1 million dollar umbrella policy costs an average of $300 a year.

At that price, it takes more than three thousand years to pay out in premiums what your policy will protect against. If you're insured through me, and you own a dog, call me or come in today to review your policies to make sure that you're covered. If your insured through someone else, call them and make sure you're covered - or, better yet - call me.

We're not surprised that it's expensive to not be insured. Don't you be surprised if reviewing your coverage saves you everything.