Looking for a market - Therapy Dog

[TwoLabs]

One of my clients has a therapy dog (has three certifications from national therapy dog associations). Her daughter is a teacher and has him at the school and he works in the classroom with special needs. The school has requested insurance and we don't run across this that often and so I'm wondering if anyone knows of any places I can look?

 

[adjusterjack]

he works in the classroom with special needs.

The problem there is that the daughter is using the dog in her work and that's excluded under the liability section of a homeowners or renters insurance policies of both your client and her daughter.

The daughter would need some sort of liability policy that would specify that she is providing therapy dog related services and the dog's owner would have to be named as additional insured.

Here's a couple of sites with information about that kind of insurance:

Animal Assisted Therapist Insurance: Key Insurance Coverages for Pet or Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) Professionals

Therapy Dogs International

Those aren't recommendations, they just came up first in a search for therapy dog liability insurance. You might find other sources with a search of your own or contact surplus lines brokers.

I have no idea whether that coverage would include dog bites or just E&O of the teacher/therapist.

PS: Dog stays home until the insurance issue is resolved. One bite without coverage potentially puts mother and daughter in the poor house not to mention the emotional damage to a kid if the therapy service fails.

 

[TwoLabs]

Thank you adjuster jack. Another person has recommended Scottsdale and so I'm going to give them a try. Thanks!

 

[adjusterjack]

Scottsdale Insurance Company is now Nationwide's E&S Specialty business unit.

Nationwide Completes Rebrand of Scottsdale Insurance Company | Nationwide.com

The offices are still located in Scottsdale, AZ.