2018 Oregon Dog Bite Insurance Claims Topped $5 Million

In U.S. households, almost 90 million dogs are owned as pets and, in most cases, considered to be “part of the family.” But dogs in your care can also be a source of liability if they injure people or other pets, which is why insurers encourage dog owners to train and care for their pets properly to avoid tragic injuries and costly dog bite claims. Home insurers in Oregon paid $5.1 million to settle 184 dog bite claims in 2018, according to the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.) Nationwide, insurers paid $675 million in claims related to dog bites, and the average cost paid for dog bite claims went from $37,051 in 2017 to $39,017 in 2018, a 5.3 percent increase. Each year, more than 4.5 million people in the United States are bitten by dogs, resulting in an estimated 800,000 injuries that need medical attention, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA).