While walking the dog I was sitting, she lunged forward on the leash pulling me down to the sidewalk. I ended up with a broken hand, broken front tooth, and multiple stitches in my upper lip. There was necessary time off work with no pay, also. My responsibility on the medical bills and lost pay is in the thousands. Most HO insurance covers the pets. Should the HO reimburse the sitter through HO insurance?
So Sorry to hear about your injuries @Sonya have you contacted member services about this ?
The accident and liability insurance provided by THS appears to cover others injured whilst a pet is in your care but not the sitter themselves. The home is also covered by the home and contents insurance. However, I can’t see where are sitter is covered but member services can advise you.
I tried to rescue the dog at a sit who was in a dam and I fell. I tore every rotator cuff and dislocated my bicep tendon. Emergency surgery to reconstruct my shoulder and twelve months very painful recovery and physiotherapy.
I just dealt with it as a very unfortunate part of the possible hazards of house-sitting, as very hard as that was. Nobody was responsible for what happened but me. This could have happened anywhere, at any time, and sometimes we just have to take responsibility for what happens in life.
I guess travel insurance would cover such accidents. Never travel without it.
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I’m sorry to hear you got hurt. I hope you have recovered now or are recovering.
I’m not an insurance expert but the accident insurance says this:
We will reimburse Sitters for up to $1m per incident, in respect of loss from having to pay damages and costs to others which arise from any single event occurring during a Sit if the pet causes: (a) death or injury to a person; or (b) loss or damage of their property.
You’re a person the pet caused injury to and you had to pay costs to another (your medical costs) so in basic terms you could try claim. You’re also supposed to report the incident to THS within 24 hours so this would probably be their get-out if you didn’t. I’m sure there’s also some other way they could say the injured person has to be someone else but you don’t know until your try.
The owner is supposed to have their own insurance and that may also cover them for injuries to you or they may have pet insurance that covers this - I used to… You are not a professional dog-walker just someone that came to look after their pet so that may help.
For thousands I would certainly try - it’s not like you’re going to want to do this sit again so I wouldn’t worry about hurting their feelings.
As a home-owner I wouldn’t worry about my insurance having to pay out to save someone thousands. If I had no insurance to cover it that may be another matter as I wouldn’t have the money but it sounds like you may live in the US based on how much it cost you so maybe try a personal injury lawyer for advice or some sort of citizens advice service?
Do you have any travel insurance that may cover it?
Also please report the injury to THS anyway as this dog should be excluded from their service as it has caused injury to a person and so cannot be on the platform. THS should either remove the owner from the platform or advise them they cannot have the dog there if they want to use the service.
5.2.4. ensure that no pets to be left under the care of a Sitter have ever caused a person or animal any physical harm (no matter how minor the injury);
There may be a long line of people telling you to suck it up and accept this as the risk of being a sitter. Please ignore them - some people may want to be a martyr and absorb all the costs of anything that happens to them but they may also have the money to be able to afford that and that’s their choice. Do what you feel you need to do to recover financially from this as well as recovering your physical health
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I disagree. Nobody knows how the dog’s leash was held and if this could have been avoided by handling it differently. Why is always the animal to blame? Maybe it’s a very big dog? Maybe the sitter has been told to be careful but didn’t heed the warning. Who knows? I would be very careful with assumptions and recommendations.
I am not a sitter but if something like this happened to me, my health insurance would cover all of it and I wouldn’t even have to tell anyone how it happened.
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This is difficult to know. In some jurisdictions, the HO might be liable or partly liable. Then their liability insurance should pay, regardless of the terms of the THS insurance.
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Start by contacting membership services. This isn’t the type of question that can be answered on the forum, and it’s not answerable via the opinions of random people.
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You disagree that someone should report to THS that they were injured?
Or do you disagree that THS should not allow a dog that injures someone by pulling on the lead so hard that they fall and get injured to be eligible be on the platform? That would really be up to THS who can contact both parties if they want more information to make a decision.
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Yes. Usually the animal is not to blame because it didn’t do this on purpose. It didn’t bite and it didn’t injure the sitter, it only jumped away. That’s what we know of and by this description I would not think it’s the dog’s fault.
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I was fascinated that the THS insurance only applied to cats and dogs. Lots of other types of pets on THS that can cause injury/damage. BTW pets are considered property in the insurance world so intent is not relevant.
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@Pawtastic It’s the pulling on the lead that injured Sonya. It does not require an animal to bite to cause injury. I see you have come up with several imagined scenarios already where she is to blame so I’guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree on this one
@Sonya Not everything that goes wrong on a sit is your fault. It doesn’t even have to be the owner’s fault but as the dog is theirs it is their responsibility.
THS may be of some assistance with regards to their insurance but I wouldn’t expect them to do much outside of advising on that as they seem to take a very, very hands-off, nothing-to-do-with-us approach to any issue between owner and sitter.
Have you approached this subject with the owner? What was their response when you did or what was their response to your injury when it happened?
The HO is required to have home insurance that is valid for a sitter
5.2.10. ensure that you have adequate home insurance and that this insurance also covers you for the occupancy of a Sitter in your home
Their personal liability insurance may cover you. It gets a little fuzzy around things like a hired dog walker getting hurt and also it varies by country and also by state within a country as to if the owner is responsible. The history of the animal is also relevant if it has a history of such behaviour. And also you are not a hired or professional dog walker. There could be a shared responsibility in which case you would get a portion of a payout.
Lots of variables so if the owner doesn’t offer to cover the costs and you still wish to pursue it you could try a consult with a lawyer. Maybe find one that gives a free 15 minutes consult.
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Why are some people discussing this as to who “to blame for it”? This is an accident, the only challenge you have is to assign it to the correct insurance or maybe even to multiple insurance companies. There is also no need to prove anything. It is up to the insurance companies (if multiple) to work out themselves (or among each other) who will pay for what. I have worked in the past for a company that received calls from people on vacation who had an accident. What we always wanted was to give us all the insurance that they had. We then figured out how to spread the costs over multiple insurance companies if needed. Unless you have a bad insurance company (or they suspect fraud), you will not be blamed for your accident and no detective will interrogate you as the victim of the accident (at least in Europe, not sure anywhere else…).
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@Sonya I hope that you are recovering from your injuries.
Please report back on the what member services have advised you to help other members on the forum if they experience something similar. Thank you
Very strange to not tell anyone about such a serious accident
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Hi @Sonya I hope you are recovering from your injuries ?
I noticed this clause in the T&Cs today which is probably not what you want to hear but seems to cover your situation
5.3. The following applies only to Sitters. You will:
5.3.8. before arranging a Sit , have suitable insurance in place that will cover you for any travel and medical expenses;
Thank you for all of this. Some people also live in countries where you do not end up destroyed financially after an injury or illness (“travel insurance” notwithstanding).
I’m so sorry this happened to you, Sonja. I’ve come close to injury during a couple sits with dogs.
I am so sorry you were injured. I have no advice, but the first thing I look at on a homeowner’s profile is the size of the dog. While I am very aware that even a little dog can trip you (my own 12 pound Cavalier tripped me and caused damage to my hand and knee), I don’t feel I am strong enough to walk a dog more than about 30 pounds and would not apply for that sit. This is assuming that the dog that lunged was a big dog.