Pet insurance - how to prove a dog is not a pure breed???

DignifiedWheat

We paid a £100 nominal sum for a puppy back in 2009. He's now our much loved dog called Stanley. His mother was a dog owned by my work colleague, whose dog had "accidental puppies" after a meeting (& mating!) with another dog in the neighbourhood. The mother was a labrador-looking type of dog (not a pedigree though) and we are not sure what the father was. Stanley looks pretty much like a labrador, though he is smaller than usual, his ears are smaller, and he has a slightly darker line down his back.

We first insured him with PetPlan in 2009. We picked "labrador retriever" from their drop-down list of dog types. Now, 6 years on, I called them to ask about changing from the 12-month "essential" plan to a "life-long" plan (the difference being they will cover a recurring condition on the life-long plan, but only the first occurrence of the condition on the essential plan). I got a quote first from the website and it was approx £22 per month. When I called PetPlan, they said it would be £34 per month. After a while they told me it would be the higher price because they had Stanley on their system as a pedigree, not as a crossbreed. They say if we can prove he is not a pedigree then the monthly premium can be reduced.

This seems odd to me... how can I prove a negative? We don't have any Kennel Club papers showing Stanley to be a pedigree labrador (because he isn't one!), but how can I prove it?

nidO

Can only really suggest calling the insurance company back and asking them how they expect you to prove a negative, and see what sort of proof they'd like.

Beyond going to the extent of genetic testing (which incidentally appear to be available from the £60 mark, their reliability seems questionable though but even if they don't reliably tell you what mix your dog *is*, it should reliably confirm it isn't a pedigree) I can't really imagine how they'd expect you to prove that.

ripplyuk

Ask your vet to give you a letter. That's usually all the insurance company will need. It just needs to say that the vet believes Stanley is not purebred.

sheramber

A letter from your vet sayong they consider him a crossbreed.

A letter from a local member of the breed club or KC judge of labradors. The secretary of the breed club ( details available on the KC site) may be able to advise of somone local to you.

DignifiedWheat

I phoned our vet -- they suggest either DNA testing (which they say is around £25 so not at all bad considering we will save £10 per month on the insurance premium) or the nurse will look at him and write a letter for free if she's confident he's not a purebred. Will see the nurse first...