Are You Proactive?
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By Debra Vey Voda-Hamilton, Esq.
While at a conference in Portland, Oregon, I met with women in the pet industry and presented my MAAP Program, Navigating Short and Long Term Care Plans for Your Beloved Companions. It was very interesting to observe how passionate these women were about their businesses and their animals. Some had their animals with them as emotional support animals. Others called home regularly to check in on the ‘kids’ while they were away. Yet, no one at my program had made any plans for these beloved animals outside of their will.
We all know the drill. We either have all the dogs with us while we attend a show or we check in with their caregivers each day to assure ourselves that everyone is well. Yet not one of them had been proactive in making a plan for their pets outside of their will. Within their will lay all the pet care plans. Yet if they were not dead, say they had a stroke, Alzheimer’s or cancer and could no longer take care of their pets, those plans will not come to fruition.
Another attendee, Deborah Turner, has a pet insurance business. She provides additional pet insurance, above your homeowners, to people who have one dog, or those like us with more than one dog or who may have one of the identified breeds – German Shepherd, Rottweiler or American bull terrier. She will insure you so that if your pet has an incident you will be covered, short and long term. We spent some time talking about our respective plans to help proactively care for our client’s pets and how difficult it was to have people do it now and not wait until they bit someone. Then it will be too late.
We discovered our service had three things in common that held people back from taking the steps necessary to save their pet’s life. First, they choose to do it later. Nothing has happened so far, they are healthy and their dogs are sweet. They choose to wait until something happens before writing their MAAP plan or increasing their pet liability insurance. Second, it is too expensive. Deb and I both laughed when we found this was a common problem. In my world, people feel it is too expensive to create a MAAP Plan. They don’t know who to appoint and don’t think they have the money necessary to set aside to pay for the care of their pets. Deb said her clients don’t want to add the extra expense for something that might happen. This lack of urgency leads to complacency.
Finally, pet owners fear addressing these two specific problems. They fear their own mortality, illness or injury. They fear that if they bought additional pet liability insurance, people would think their dog is a biter. Each reason plays into our propensity to procrastinate. In both cases, if you are not proactive your beloved companion will pay dearly. Your pet won’t have a MAAP Plan listing a few places to go including some compensation and clear directives for their care when you are not able care for them. If you don’t plan to provide funds for a defense, you may have to get rid of your beloved pet because you cannot afford to solve the problem. You will be sued, and the Courts may order the pet removed from the jurisdiction or worse, destroyed.
Thinking about what you can do for your pet should include being proactive. Acknowledging what you need to do to maintain your beloved companion’s well-being should be a pre-thought not an after-thought. Don’t wish you had it when you need it. That’s like closing the barn door after the horse is stolen. If you need more information about planning for the care of your pet, long term-short term feel free to check out my website at www.hamiltonlawandmediation.com or for liability questions Deborah Turner at www.dogbitequote.com.
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Posted by ralbee
on Sep 15 2015. Filed under Current Articles, Editorial, Featured.
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