My Dog Sam - Should You Consider Dog Insurance?
With National Dog Day on August 26th, I was reminded of the fond memories of past pets that I had while growing up in a small town in Utah called Mayfield. My first childhood pet was a mixed breed dog named Sam. Indeed, Sam truly was my best friend through the years. I enjoyed teaching him how to sit, stay, shake, jump through a hoop, and his favorite activity: fetching a ball.
Sam's Tree Climbing Accident
My childhood pet Sam also enjoyed a few more dangerous activities like riding with me on my Kawasaki dirt bike and chasing cats all the way up to the top of a tree. Sam was extremely fit for a medium sized dog. This was due to all the ball chasing activities we did every single day. As a result of vigorous daily exercise, he could launch himself more than five feet into the air. Because of this, he was able to easily launch himself up to the bottom limbs of a tree and climb his way up the tree to bark at any neighborhood cat that crossed his path. Sam enjoyed chasing cats off our yard and letting them know he was the King of this territory.
The neighborhood cats always thought they were safe climbing up a tree but to their surprise they soon found out that this was not your normal neighborhood dog. As a result of Sam’s tree climbing activities, and riding the motorcycle with me, he had a few accidents.
On one such occasion he climbed up really high into a tree and followed the terrified neighborhood cat out onto a narrow tree branch. With the combined weight of the cat and my dog Sam, the branch began to sway back and forth. As the tree limb swayed, the cat lost its balance and fell out of the tree and Sam also lost his balance. To this day, I can still see this in slow motion as my best friend was falling and I couldn’t catch him. I was terrified that he would break a leg or get seriously hurt. Lucky for Sam and me, he fell onto the barb wire fence below the tree limb which help soften his fall. The barbwire ripped open his paw and Sam spent several weeks limping around the yard until his wound from falling out of the tree healed.
Dog Insurance History
Back in the 1980’s pet insurance was not well known and never discussed. Dog insurance was just getting started in the 1980’s. According to NAPHIA (North American Pet Health Insurance Association), in 1980 a company called Veterinary Pet Insurance (VPI) opened its doors and became the first company to offer pet insurance in North America. In 1982, the famous dog named “Lassie” was one of the first dogs to be insured with a pet insurance policy.
Is Dog Insurance Worth the Cost?
This question always comes up when I am discussing pet insurance with clients, “Is pet insurance really worth it?” The answer to this question probably depends on how you feel about your pet. For my dog Sam, I would have paid any price or veterinarian bill to keep my childhood friend healthy and alive. However, I was lucky and my mother only had to pay for a few minor veterinarian bills. She never had to make the decision “do we put my son’s furry friend asleep due to the high cost of veterinarian bills or do we keep my son’s best friend alive at any cost?”
Some people are not so lucky and they do face this financial decision. They face the agonizing decision of pet health care for various accidents or diseases. If you have ever owned a pet, you understand how they truly do become part of your family. Luckily, today we don’t have to take the risk of pet health care. For a small monthly fee, we can transfer this risk to the insurance companies. Visit our pet insurance page on our website and review how reasonable pet insurance is today for our furry friends.
Kevin Hatton – Agent/Owner at Big Pine Insurance Agency
