Thread: Working/ hunting dog insurance FMG

My feral little kelpie x lab x jack Russell has become pretty handy on farm now and I utilise her every day. Moving on next season and will likely hire her as full time working dog on a small beef block so I’m looking at insuring her. I have thought about it many times but I need to get it done.
Does anyone have their dogs insured? Who with? What’s the premiums like? Have you had to claim and how was the process?
She is used for both hunting, working and pest control. Being used for more than one purpose I’m not entirely sure if they will cover her.
Not being your typical working dog breed I wonder if they will cover her as a working dog. She has kelpie in there but I have had people say she looks staffy. She was dumped as a puppy and vets told us kelpie, lab, jack russell.
I have missed the boat it calling FMG today but will give them and any other recommendations tomorrow.
I’m hoping to get full cover for basically everything, injury, loss of use, death, vet cost/ surgery cover. Full replacement cover.

Originally Posted by Chelsea

Not being your typical working dog breed I wonder if they will cover her as a working dog. She has kelpie in there but I have had people say she looks staffy. She was dumped as a puppy and vets told us kelpie, lab, jack russell.

So mongrel then

Does the vet know where the pup came from or is it an educated guess? If it’s a guess then there’s really no way of knowing what has gone into the dog. Part of the reason for having FMG type insurance is the “fair market value” cover for the loss of the dog. Obviously the dog is going to be worth a lot more to you than it would on the open market, where in all likelihood it would be pretty much worthless. I say this because dogs of mixed breed like this are usually free or traded for a few beers.

Personally I wouldn’t bother insuring a useful mutt. No harm going through the process to establish what the premiums are but at the end of the day you’d have to be sure you were going to see a reasonable benefit for the value of the dog should it be a total loss.

Originally Posted by Flyblown

So mongrel then

Does the vet know where the pup came from or is it an educated guess? If it’s a guess then there’s really no way of knowing what has gone into the dog. Part of the reason for having FMG type insurance is the “fair market value” cover for the loss of the dog. Obviously the dog is going to be worth a lot more to you than it would on the open market, where in all likelihood it would be pretty much worthless. I say this because dogs of mixed breed like this are usually free or traded for a few beers.

Personally I wouldn’t bother insuring a useful mutt. No harm going through the process to establish what the premiums are but at the end of the day you’d have to be sure you were going to see a reasonable benefit for the value of the dog should it be a total loss.

Yep a mutt. Can definitely see the kelpie in her quiet strongly. vets took her for fixing and I told them the situation with her being dumped at a rest stop in the middle of no where and asked them to “identify” her breeding. When I picked her up kelpie x lab x jack Russell was their answer.
I’m more thinking insurance simply because should she ever have an accident regardless of her working status id want to be able to cover the vet costs. Same as why I have my cars insured.
As for the replacement side of things, while she’s not the common type of working dog she is good at her job and I have put a lot of work into her. If she becomes unusable or dies on the job to get a dog at her level of skill certainly won’t be cheap or free. Again just like my older car. Might not be worth much but should I write it off I’m not going to be able to replace it cheap or free, I have it insured at a fixed rate more than market value.

Pretty sure you can get vet insurance. Ask the local vet. I think I saw a brochure at vet plus.

As the dog will no longer be under your care you wont miss it as much if some misfortune came it's way...if the insurance was built into the hireage it would cripple most farmers I would think...basically if one has no more use for the dog then just give it away...I am not even sure one could insure an animal in someone else's care.

Originally Posted by DavidGunn

As the dog will no longer be under your care you wont miss it as much if some misfortune came it's way...if the insurance was built into the hireage it would cripple most farmers I would think...basically if one has no more use for the dog then just give it away...I am not even sure one could insure an animal in someone else's care.

She would still be in my care. I was meaning I might “put her on the payroll”

If your going to be working with her, than ordinary pet insurance would be the go I would think. There was a thread on here a while back about pet insurance from memory. As far as insuring her working ability, I would think that might be quite difficult.

Found the thread
https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....od-deal-69073/

FMG will. Set your own cover with a valuation or a set rate per dog. Used to be a $1000/dog. Only up to a certain age.


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@Chelsea hopefully this week i will be taking to FMG insuring my working dogs, i will let you know

@RUMPY will be able to tell you about pet insurance.....
by all means insure for injury,illness etc if you believe its worth while doing so,my bro in law works on big bull farm and always seems to have at least one dog off with broken leg etc....vet bills will add up..heck some pig hunters need a constant direct credit running to vet just to cover the injuries.

Yes, We have our dog insured with Petplan. Costs about $68/month I think. He has dry eye which needs daily cream that costs $112/ month so glad he's covered as we get all that back apart from $150 excess per year.Had our last dog insured as well which worked out well when we found out he had bad kidneys and had medication and ultrasound done. Ultrasound was over $1000 by itself.

I forgot to post my findings for those interested. Spoke with FMG and insurance for full cover and replacement value of $2k was quoted at between $150-$200 a year. I’m pretty sure it was closer to the $150.
This was a multi policy quote because I had to look at public liability, car and contents also so it May have been cheap because of that.
As for the breeding they have suggested I get footage of her working or have people who can vouch for her work abilities but said it’s not generally an issue. Of course If she was a Pomeranian they would be inclined to ask questions.

@Chelsea mine was pay out up to $3000 a dog, up to $1000 for a vet bill dogs had to be value by stock agent.
IF all dogs got killed at once they only pay $3000 max
I am like you but sure mine was $300 ish

Originally Posted by bigbear

@Chelsea mine was pay out up to $3000 a dog, up to $1000 for a vet bill dogs had to be value by stock agent.
IF all dogs got killed at once they only pay $3000 max
I am like you but sure mine was $300 ish

Mines the same however I chose for $2000 replacement cover and only have one dog. They did say I may be questioned on her abilities because they have had cases where the working dog was covered but the family pet dies and they try and claim the insurance on the family pet at the working dog value but she said footage of her working and testimonies from staff or employers is proof enough.

Originally Posted by Chelsea

Mines the same however I chose for $2000 replacement cover and only have one dog. They did say I may be questioned on her abilities because they have had cases where the working dog was covered but the family pet dies and they try and claim the insurance on the family pet at the working dog value but she said footage of her working and testimonies from staff or employers is proof enough.

Wish I had insured my mutt Chelsea. He got cancer at 3.5 years and cost almost 2 k in vet bills just to sort out what was going on with him and then have him put down ( which they charged me for too......)

Not only do you have to deal with the heart ache of losing a very special dog, then the bills sting also to add some salt in there.