A friend of mine brought this to my attention and I wondered if everyone else was aware of it. She had allowed her stud dog to be used and on looking at the litter had bought one of the pups. The bitch's owner had given her the normal 4 weeks KC insurance. After running on the pup and another it was decided this pup was not holding its original promise and was sold on. She contacted the Kc insurance dept and said perhaps they might like to contact the new owner as they were interested in insurance and she could not offer it to them as she wasn't the breeder. They then told her that she should never have had the 4 weks insurance herself. Apparently (and yes it is in the very small print) you cannot offer this 4 weeks insurance to members of your family (fair enough) or to any other breeders. (the definition of a breeder being anyone who breeds even once). So anyone who sells within the breed (and many of us do) cannot offer 4 weeks cover for these pups. We should also make sure any "pet" person we sell to never  has bred in the past (and look at breeds other than your own). I'm sure many a person has had these 4 weeks policies (I have myself when buying in a bitch)  given to them in good faith and will only know they are useless if they try to claim. I phoned  the company up and asked why and was told "as breeders may well sell a sickly pup to another breeder friend, the pup dies and then they make a claim" What!! Is that really what the KC thinks we are like? They have such a high regard of the average breeder don't they? I just think it is something we need to be aware of before we offer it. Myself I will stick to petplan who have given me good service for many years.

Yes, I had recently noticed the small print but never really worried as I dont insure mine anyhow..free or not.
I can however see it as wrong, for the genuine folk that are in the UK.

Might be worth speaking to Agria again as they have now changed this policy for kittens -you now CAN insure a kitten sold to another breeder. So surely they should change it for dog breeders as well.

wow i not be useing kc insur now il go to a diff insur for any litters now!

Try speaking to the insurers first, you could jump out of the frying pan by going to someone else, they may cover that but leave something even more important off.

I spoke to agria myself today. Although I had heard this from a very reliable person I still only believe what I hear firsthand! It is correct as at today and the lady I spoke to thought it totally reasonable. I said I thought it should be brought to everyone's attention  as I don't think people know this clause and are giving 4 weeks insurance out to people they should not. It is in the breed notes column of Our dogs this week (chows) and I hope the writer writes letters to both papers too. I would hate some poor person to get caught out through ignorance.

well thats it then!! not be useing them ,thankyou for bring it to my attention x

> well thats it then!! not be useing them

I would not be surprised to learn that other underwriters consider all breeding to be on a business basis and therefore not eligable for "standard" insurance so before dashing off to somewhere else, as someone else pointed out, better check first.

That's disgusting, it's not as though they are going to breed a puppy in the 4 weeks that they would get insurance so why can't they insure it?  What are we paying for the KC?  They seem to want our money but do nothing for us in return these days....

i will be but i wonder if i could pay for some if theyve been a breeder as 1 of my pups are going to a show/breeding home ....if i cant they will have to sort some out before they get pup grrr something eles to worry about now im going so gray by the day :(

That's disgusting, it's not as though they are going to breed a puppy in the 4 weeks

From the underwriters point of view that is beside the point, there are commercial policies and domestic ones - if you are considered to be a commercial risk you will not be covered by a policy written for domestic use. It has nothing to do with the KC it is the underwriters who decide on the conditions in the policy and you can more or less insure anything for anything but you will have to pay for the perceived risk.

After all if you breed you will want to cover the risks involved with that and will therefore not take out a pet insurance, if you are a pet owner who does not breed this policy is good value as it is free.

you cant take out the breeding insur till your dogs are old enough i went thru all this with the kc 2weeks ago you have to take it out before 12weeks of pups being born!.

Thanks for letting us know.

I bought a pup this time last year fom a KC Assured breeder and possible breeding from her was discussed. I was given the KC puppy insurance so it seems this breeder didn't know. The KC may be losing ongoing business as owner/breeders will not have the puppy policy to renew into an adult policy.

I was put off PetPlan a while back as the call centre that dealt with puppy insurance was out of the country and they got 2 out of  the 3 policies wildly wrong - the owners got policies for mongrels and the price paid/insured for was way out. It took 2 further calls to correct.  I wasn't able to do the policies on line as at the time for technical reasons, their setup wasn't ipad friendly then.

No not really as most insurance companies don't insure for the "breeding" side anyway.  I doubt that many people who give the 4 weeks free insurance realise this, I know I didn't.  Although no-one who has had pups off me recently wants them for breeding anyway.

you cant take out the breeding insur till your dogs are old enough i went thru all this with the kc 2weeks ago you have to take it out before 12weeks of pups being born!.

I was not talking about taking out breeding insurance, whatever that is, I was talking of the difference in a dog owner in a domestic situation having insurance on their pet dog and a breeder taking out insurance to cover their activities which amongst other things includes having the public on your premises and an on going responsibility for the product you sell.

Don't think you need to worry just tell anyone you sell a pup to the restrictions on the insurance, then they can sort themselves out if needed before they collect the pup from you.

but you would not necessarily know if one of your puppy owners had ever bred??? 

I too have sold pups within the breed, and until they are two years old they are Pets, and may never be bred from, or the owners have bred in the past but not plan on doing so again, and breeding risks aren't covered anyway.

It just seems all Insurance looks good and then has so many get out clauses ti is worthless when it comes to claiming.

I don't Insure mine, but am reasuured that pups are when they leave.

I would of thought all policies are written by Agria and not the KC who sell the product so to speak. I wonder if any other insurance companies under this underwriter or others have the same policy, might find they do upon looking deeper?

I was aware of this new restriction on the KC puppy insurance. When I queried it , I was told that it had been introduced because of dubious practices ( or words to that effect) by breeders . They don't seem to have a very high regard for us !

I give out the KC insurance details with 4 weeks insurance. I sold a puppy in good faith as it seemed fine at 8 weeks. By 14 weeks it became ill and later died and one of the kidneys wasn't fully developed was the reason. The new owners had continued to insure with the KC and they were brilliant. They paid for all the treatment and the price of a puppy if I recall. We were all devestated of course and I gave them my pick of the litter as I felt obliged and had no other puppy and they wanted one of mine. Credit where credit is due I could not fault them.
People do defraud insurance companies and that is why premiums can be so high in all walks of life. The underwriter is there to assess that risk. Can't you tell I used to work for a life assurance company!!!
Check out all the small print is my advice but I will continue to advise people that if they can afford it, the KC insurance is a good one.

but you would not necessarily know if one of your puppy owners had ever bred??? 

No, just tell everyone of the restrictions on the 4 weeks insurance supplied with the puppies.

If the KC doesn't allow the 4 weeks free insurance for puppies that are going to breeders, do they have a special insurance for breeders either for the first 4weeks or after?

Or are breeders deemed the same as pet owners after the initial 4weeks?

I'm not sure I can see the logic.

The KC do not do insurance, they are just agents selling a product and the conditions are not controlled by them.

Breeders insurance and pet insurance is the same as any other insurance you have to shop around and get one that suits you.

On a different tack I would expect that the KC will think hard now about dropping the free 4 weeks and leaving it to the puppy purchaser to sort out the insurance suitable to their needs, as it is there is a gaping hole for the dishonest to defraud.

The KC policy booklet I have excludes the free cover to puppies owned by their breeder or a member of the breeder's family, but doesn't mention any other breeder at all. Is it a recent change, because my booklet is a couple of years old.

Is it a recent change

I think it is JG

> Is it a recent change

We just noticed it last week as our most recent litter started to leave us. As we've had them microchipped we also have a 4 week cover offer from Petplan so might just use that one with the pups who are going to other breed people.

I have just have a reply from Agria. I think it makes it very clear. It is something we all need to know and realise that if we use this 4 weeks insurance it can only be for out and out pet homes and no AB (whether or not they actually breed they are breeders by definition).It is a shame as I'm sure this wasn't what the KC intended. AB's SHOULD (although now not always are) the best breeders in the breed and as so would sell within the breed eithThank you for your email regarding the Kennel Club Pet Insurance 4 week free policy. I have tried to cut and paste the relevant bit and hope it worked!

here is the reply

The 4 week free policy is not available for any breeders of dogs, this includes breeders who have bred another breed to which they will be purchasing from yourself and all assured breeder.



The free insurance is in place to protect the puppy, yourself the breeder and the new owners during the rehoming process when leaving its mother and the rest of the litter and the reason this is not available to breeders is because they will already be experienced in the raising of puppies.



er breeding or show stock. Now if they do these pups have no insurance or use another provider. I am waiting for the KC to respond (all at Crufts!) as I would imagine regional advisers need to make AB's aware.

wow so if i was sell all my pups to show/breeders id not be giving any insurance out and the kc will be on my back as being a AB! or would i have to get intouch to say i wonder :(

Just give out covernotes for PetPlan instead.