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

Dog Bites, Blue Moons, Summer's Second Wind

California was tops in the first two categories, then came Illinois, 309 claims, $10 million; Texas, 219 claims, $5.1 million; and Ohio, 215, $5.4 million. At the bottom of the claims per state list were Maine, New Mexico, Montana, Hawaii and South Dakota, Martinez http://dogbitealternatives.com/reminder-dog-bite-prevention-and-rabies-education-thursday/ said. The average cost per claim nationally in 2011 was $28,799, Martinez said. California had a per-claim average of $38,500 but New York came in first because the company paid an average of $45,900 per claim there. Michigan was second with an average $38,700 per claim. In 2010, California led the way with 369 claims and total payouts of $11.3 million.
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Dog Bites Woman, Man Bites Dog

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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Dogs Put $489M Bite on Home Insurance Industry

2.YOU SAID IT CnW -Sounds like the poor dog should be spared. Though it is frightening to know that it has the capability of such aggression, it should be consoling to all, that what the dog really wanted to do was run away from the people who breached his territory. I always tell my kids... NEVER pet someone else's dog UNLESS its owner gives you permission. In response to three women who were injured by a dog attack Sunday in Shady Side. 3.WEATHER & TIDES Weather.com is calling for sunny skies Tuesday with temperatures in the upper 80s.
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Most insurance companies insure homeowners with dogs, according to the Institute. But some charge more to people owning breeds that an insurer may regard as bite-prone, such as pit bulls and Rottweilers. Some cover the owner only if the dog is taken to behavior classes or is restrained in public with a muzzle, chain or cage. Others deny coverage altogether. Patterson of the AVMA calls insurers' singling out certain breeds misguided. The data, she says, do not bear out the contention that one breed is more apt to bite than another, though she allows that big dogs, by virtue of their size and strength, may do more damage when they bite. "A Great Dane, a retriever can do a pretty good job of biting, if they decide to." But if you look at "willingness to bite," she says, there's no evidence that pit bulls, for example, are more dangerous than Pekinese. "Communities with a lot of pit bull bites are communities with a lot of pit bulls." Still, she says, her own apartment building does not allow tenants to keep breeds it deems especially dangerous, including pit bulls, Akitas and Rottweilers.
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