Dog bite claims cost insurers $497M in 2011, insurance group says

Dog Bites across Bexar County

State Farm Insurance, one of the nation's largest home insurers, paid more than $109 million on about 3,800 dog bite claims nationwide last year, spokesman Eddie Martinez said Wednesday. In 2010, there were about 3,500 claims and $90 million in payouts. The Insurance Information Institute estimated that nearly $479 million in dog bite claims were paid by all insurance companies in 2011, spokeswoman Loretta Worters said. In 2010, it was $413 million. It's no surprise that California home to more dogs and people than any other state led the way in 2011. Martinez says 527 claims were filed in California and victims received $20.3 million, a jump of 31 percent over 2010.
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Dog Bites Woman, Man Bites Dog

If you love and take care and be good to them, they are going to be the same thing. Yes, your dog will protect you. But other than that, they are some of the most loving animals you can run across with the right owners." Longtime Tucson dog trainer Rosemary Besenick says more people are rescuing dogs now than in the past, and that's a good thing. But taking care of a dog requires more than just feeding, walking and love, she stressed. Training is essential "The majority of dogs that bite just didn't get socialized properly at a young age," she said. "You have to take them and rearrange your lifestyle with them and set limits just like with children. Most people don't do that. They think their dog is the greatest thing in the world and give them freedom with no training." Besenick suggests carrying citronella spray at all times, which can defuse a dogfight.
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Dogs Put $489M Bite on Home Insurance Industry

Animal Control Services officials say the increase reflects better reporting, not necessarily more bites. Many of these bites cluster on the south and west sides. Click on a dot to see how many bites were in your zip code during this period. Source: Animal Control Services. Please note, not all reported bites from ACS included zip codes. When possible in these cases, zip codes were determined by searching addresses on Google Maps.
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Dog bites man - a lot

Caren Henry was out walking her own dog when, This dog came racing across this yard, a big dog." The dog knocked her down and started biting her face, seriously injuring her nose. As the attack was happening, Caren's husband, Laine, was driving by. He immediately sprang into action: Caren turned and looked at me and I seen her face was nothing but blood, so I bit the dog literally in the nose and he let go and I grabbed our dog and I grabbed her and I put them in our pick-up and took off, he told the local NBC affiliate . The county has no vicious dog ordinance, so the dog who attacked Caren does not face the threat of being put down. [Shutterstock]
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"Dog bites are the ninth leading cause of unintentional nonfatal injury to children ages 5-9," Kathy Voigt, president of Prevent The Bite , tells ABC News. "More than 2 million children are bitten by dogs every year, and most bites are from their own dog or a dog they know well. The majority of bites to smaller children are in their face and head." The scenario that keeps Emily Patterson, animal welfare scientist for the American Veterinary Medical Association , awake at night, she says, is a very young child left alone with the family dog. Children are easy to injure, she notes. They tend to do "surprising things." And dogs, she noteseven the nicest and most loving onesdo not always respond well to surprises. Somebody pulls your tail while you're asleep? http://dogfriendlydirectory.com/?p=88 You bite. The Insurance Information Institute says the most expensive claims are ones involving young children disfigured by a bite: Your neighbor's child comes over to your house to play, is bitten, and needs reconstructive surgery.
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