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

Dogs Put $489M Bite on Home Insurance Industry

The majority of bites will be from the family dog or the dog of a neighbor or friend. People across the country own about 78.2 million dogs, according to the American Pet Products Association. State Farm's figures listed the top 10 states by number of claims, claims paid and claim average. 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 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.
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East Anglia: Dog Bite Victim's Warning As Stats Show 168 Attacks In Year

In the 2012, dog bite claims accounted for $489.7 million, which is more than one-third of all homeowners liability claims paid in the year, according to the III. Compare that to 2003, when there were a few hundred more dog bite claims, and yet the claim payouts totaled $324.2 million. From 2003 to 2012, the value of dog bite claims increased 51%, a rate that far outpaces inflation. The average dog bite claim payout rose from $19,162 in 2003 to $29,752 last year, an increase of 55%. (MORE: Millions on Pet Halloween Costumes? Why We Spend More and More on Pets ) Insurers take notice of such data, and yes, owning a dogespecially one that has bitten someonecan affect your policy. In general, the fact that you have a dog doesnt factor into what rate you pay for homeowners insurance. But as the New York Times noted , once a dog bite takes place at your home, the insurer could raise the premium or even exclude dog-related injuries from coverage.
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As a U.S. Postal Service slogan in support of National Dog Bite Prevention Week says, "There are 70 million good dogs, but ANY DOG CAN BITE ." And whom do dogs most often bite? Toddlers. Next, the elderly; and coming in third--you guessed it--postal carriers. "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.
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Dog Bites Insurance Companies: Man's Best Friend Behind One-Third of All Homeowner Claims

Some people speculated that the dogs are tall, black gray, and were released by the Chinese. Many people do not dare to go out in the evening for fear of being bitten by a dog. However, local officials said that these dogs looked very normal but their origin is unclear. The health of the 50 people bitten by strange dogs remained stable. "It may be strange dogs from Thai Nguyen Province because Bac Son is bordering Thai Nguyen, or the dogs may be of local people but they did not realize when their dogs bite people," said an official of Soc Son district.
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Unknown dog bites 50 people in Hanoi's suburbs

The number includes 26 incidents involving children. It's sparked one Norfolk victim to come forward to share her story, in the hope it'll warn others of the dangers of unpredictable animals. Annie from Norfolk was walking to visit a friend last summer when it happened. She said: "All I can remember, it seemed a bit of a blur, I felt a sharp pain in the my leg and I looked down and the dog had jumped at me and sunk its teeth into dog bite lawyer the top of my inner right thigh. "I was in a bit of a daze, I saw the blood and I thought to myself 'Oh my God, that dog's bitten me'. And then the pain hit me, quite a sharp pain, like someone sticking a knife in you. "I had to go to the police station, have photographs taken. He was made to go to court and pay a fine. "The dog wasn't put down. "I was really annoyed to be quite honest, to think this dog bit me and it was still able to bite someone else and nothing had been done about it.
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