In today's litigious society, if you are a pet service professional, be it a dog trainer or behaviorist/consultant, dog walker/pet sitter, pet groomer, or operate a daycare/boarding facility, you likley understand the need for liability insurance to protect you/your business. General Liability Insurance covers you and your business against bodily injury or property damage claims to a third party, caused by your negligence. For example, if a dog in your care were to bite someone (other than you or your employees), or a client or prospective client were to slip, trip or fall in your entrance way, or in a training class. But what if you cause injury to a pet in your care, or a pet injures itself while in your care, without any negligence on your part?
Great question! Unfortunately, most all general liability policies contain an exclusion for personal property in the care, custody, or control of the insured, which for many types of businesses would be okay. However, for the pet care/service professional, it can potentially be a major problem, as pets are considered to be personal property in the eyes of the law. What this means is that without an additional endorsement to your general liability policy, you are not covered for your primary business concern, the pets in your care/classes.
The good news is there are insurance companies that do provide additional coverage endorsements to cover pets in your care, custody or control. The bad news is many of these endorsements limit the amount the insurance company will pay for accidental injury to a pet to $1,000 or $2,500 and/or will only pay the actual cash value of the pet as opposed to an expensive vet bill. If you have ever had to go through a pet injury claim, you are likely well aware that vet bills can run many times more than these amounts. Here are a few examples of recent claims to demonstrate how much vet bills can run when a pet is injured in your care:
1-Client's dog escaped dog walker during walk and was hit by a car. Total Paid $15,004.
2-Insured gave client's cat too much insulin. Total Paid $4,114.
3-During individual training class, client's dog in trainer's care fell and broke its leg. Total Paid $5,324.
4-Two dog's got in a fight during a group trainin class. Both required vet medical attention for injuries. Total Paid $17,479.
5-While running with trainer, client's dog tore its ACL. Total Paid $4,736.
6- Dog got something in its eye during a training class. Dog required surgery and suffered several complications from the eye surgery. Total Paid $10,415.
All of the above claims would have been denied by the insurance company, had these trainers not purchased a general liability policy that included an additional endorsement (additional policy form) to cover the dogs in their care, custody or control. Without including this coverage under your general liability policy, you have zero insurance coverage for the dogs in your care! Be sure to read your policy form (care, custody or control endorsement form) carefully, as many insurance companies will claim to cover this exposure under an animal bailee or professional liability form, but when you read the forms, the insurance company will often limit the amount of coverage for vet medical expenses.
If you carry coverage via the Pet Professional Guild Liability policy, coverage is mandated for pets in your care, custody or control, (including training classes) with choice of limits ranging from $10,000-$200,000. Be sure you choose a high enough limit, as often even $10,000 is not adquate if emergency vet care is needed or injuries to the dog or pet is severe. The care, custody, or control endorsement includes vet medical expenses up to the limit you choose, regardless of fault/negligence. This is also important to note, as many insurers will not cover claims where a dog tears its ACL or two dogs get in a fight while in your care or classes, as they believe the dogs caused the claims with no negligence on your part. Regardless of whether you are insured via PPG Liability policy or another insurer, be sure you choose an adequate limit based on your individual exposure(s), as well as read the form so you are not caught off guard at time of claim.
Over the years I have had some pet care providers argue that they do not need coverage for client's dogs/pets as they have their clients sign a hold harmless agreement and are not responsible for injuries to the client's dogs. Furthermore, some claims do not necessarily involve negligence on the pet care providers part, as they could have occurred on anyone's watch. While I do strongly support and recommend having a contract with your clients, including a hold harmless agreement, I have to respectfully disagree with this opinion.
To most client's, and I imagine most anyone reading this article, we truly love our pets or we would not be in this business. When someone loses his or her best friend or if that best friend is injured while in someone else's care, it is a natural reaction to be upset and place blame on the care taker/trainer, even if there may not be any negligence at all on their part. You as a pet care provider may have a very good relationship with your client(s) and feel like none of them would ever look to you to cover their pet's vet medical expenses if they are injured. You may have even had a prior incident without any problems at all from a client.
However, from many years of experience in insuring/providing coverage for dog trainers, pet sitters/dog walkers, pet groomers, daycare and boarding facilities, I can assure you that relationships can and do change when these types of claims occur. Negligence may not always be evident, you may not even be at fault, and you may have an excellent hold harmless contract in place, but it does not stop a client from taking their pain out on you/filing a lawsuit. Defending these claims can be costly even if you win. In many cases settlements are further increased when attornies get involved. By having proper care, custody or control coverage in place for the pets in your care/classes, you take some of the stress and hardship off the table for both you/your business and your clients.