So my house in Charleston fell through, so I have started the search over from scratch, but so far no good houses for rent. I am not looking into apartments, condos, or townhouses due to the lack of space, noise, and not having a yard for Sora. I did come across one property, so I submitted an interest, she said they did allow pets, and inquired about what kind of pets I had. I said I had a Siberian Husky and two beagles. She emailed me shortly after and said that Huskies were not accepted by her insurance company for the property and that they were considered aggressive and dangerous.

I didn't know of these "aggressive breeds" lists being used by housing and insurance companies, and they are not consistent based on state, and its pretty much someone just assuming. Very frustrating when looking for a place!

Sora is so sweet and would never hurt anyone, and I even saw that beagles can be found on some lists due to their hunting backgrounds...

I think it is so upsetting to put an entire breed on a list, and not looking at scenarios on a case by case basis, when most accidents are due to negligence and failed research by the owner.

i have heard of Huskies being on such list in a few states. im not sure about Colorado though. we own our home and waited till we had a house to get the dogs. i think some that were looking for homes went for places for rent by the owner and not a company which sounds like what you are doing, guess you just have to keep looking and best of luck finding a good rental till you find your new home.

i will also second that huskies should be reconsider on most of those list, but i doubt anything will be done about it. i think that is why so many huskies end up at the shelters or rescues cause people have to leave there home and no one will rent to them with the husky.

Yep. Sucks doesn't it? We ran into the same problem when we moved here. Found lots of great places and ones that accepted large breed dogs-- then we got "Huskies are on our banned breeds list." There's absolutely no good reason for it and it's SO frustrating.

We eventually found a house to rent from a private landlord that was fine with it. HOWEVER, be very careful with home owner's and renter's insurance. Val (HuskyLuv) would actually be a great person to talk to about this, and perhaps she will see this and chime in, but she's done her research on home owner's insurance that would accept huskies.

We only have renter's insurance, so I've done very little research on it myself. But trust me, I feel your pain And Jenn, I think you're absolutely right.

Those breed lists are not so much a "state" thing as they are an insurance company thing. If you are set on renting a house then pretty much all you can do is keep inquiring and hopefully you find someone whose insurance company allows huskies. There are a fair share of home insurance companies that allow huskies with no bite history, now it is just a matter of finding someone with a company that allows them.

We had been looking into apartments in the Charleston area as a back up in case we could not find a home in a decent amount of time. Luckily we found the house that we did and we ended up not needing to go the apartment route but we did find a nice apt complex in Summerville that would have met our needs. The apartment complex is called Windsor Club of Wescott Plantation and we really liked it because it was a gated community, they had really nice apartments at reasonable rates, they allow up to 3 dogs (hard to find, I know because we have 3 dogs!), they allow Siberian huskies, and they have a fenced dog park in the complex. Only problem is the dog park only has 4 ft high fences. But worst case scenario you could take the dogs to the dog park and let the beagles off lead and just keep your sibe on lead. They have garages available and all units have full size washer and dryer and a major plus is that they have short lease terms as short as 1 month to however long you wish to make it. It may not be ideal but it's an option to keep in the back of your mind if all else fails. Windsor Club of Wescott Plantation was our fall back plan, we visited the community and really liked it as far as apartments go.

It's a bit different down here in Australia. But I did watch Cesar Milan's special on the most aggressive breeds, they surveyed heaps of people to find out what the opinions of the most aggressive breeds were. I think Siberian Huskies were in the top ten. It was really surprising. It did seem like a lot of it was just misinformed opinion though.

When it comes down to it I think it mostly depends on the owners anyway. I mean I can't imagine Logan being aggressive enough to get on that list, but if someone else was raising him you never know. He's a very good tempered dog, but with the wrong owners any dog could be aggressive. That's why I don't entirely understand the point of these lists.

myhusky wrote:

When it comes down to it I think it mostly depends on the owners anyway. I mean I can't imagine Logan being aggressive enough to get on that list, but if someone else was raising him you never know. He's a very good tempered dog, but with the wrong owners any dog could be aggressive. That's why I don't entirely understand the point of these lists.

100% agree.

I don't know how they specify what an "aggressive dog" is... I mean the most well mannered animals can have a prey drive and they may be dangerous to other tenants small animals but if the owners are responsible that isn't an issue... I don't think huskies made it on that list for actual human bite cases but rather for attacks involving other animals... But still... I think that it's too hard for any individual insurance company to assess the competence of each owner on their supposedly "aggressive breed", especially considering people lie... It sucks but jeez... This is why I hate people... Huskies are much better friends;)

I just ran into the top 10 most dangerous dogs and huskies come in at #4!

http://www.pluspets.net/top-10-dangerous-dog-breeds/

I so don't agree!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok this is completely outrageous. My two huskies are the sweetest babies in the entire world. Everyone that meets them falls in love with them! They would never hurt anything. My adult husky can tell the difference between adults and babies, too, and is very gentle with babies. And all the research I did on the breed said that it was rare to get a husky that had an aggressive temperament. In my opinion, they are the sweetest dogs you will ever find!

The answer is simple: people are stupid

I second that!

tlh0012 wrote:

Ok this is completely outrageous. My two huskies are the sweetest babies in the entire world. Everyone that meets them falls in love with them! They would never hurt anything. My adult husky can tell the difference between adults and babies, too, and is very gentle with babies. And all the research I did on the breed said that it was rare to get a husky that had an aggressive temperament. In my opinion, they are the sweetest dogs you will ever find!

Mya adores people too! She literally stops to try and say hello to every person she sees ( ears down...tail going 100 miles an hour..lol). She LOVES babies and kids too!!! On a few occasions she's gotten a hold of a friend of ours baby's sock, toy, or pacifier and she protects the babies things for like 2 weeks straight! Sleeping with it every night and not destroying it! For a husky not to destroy something that it "steals" is definitely love!

Haha...did you read the description on huskies on that list? Says they are affectionate with people! Goodness. People just see pointy eat and a long snout and think wolf! It must be dangerous!

Malamutes were on that list too, but I was wondering if they are on most lists? Seems like less people know about mals. Maybe you could say your dogs are malamutes instead. Or just say all your dogs are mutts and you have no clue what breed they are. lol.

SaraB wrote:

Or just say all your dogs are mutts and you have no clue what breed they are. lol.

Tried that and the insurance company muscled me into it. "Well what does your vet say? I have to put something down..."

The homeowner's insurance we're likely going through surprised us. Liberty Mutual accepts our dogs regardless of the breed. They are on their "list" but then they ask you a bunch of questions and apparently we answered everything "right" so both our dogs are listed as huskies and are on our insurance which makes me happy

My State Farm lady laughed when I asked her if she needed to know the dog breeds for the renter's insurance.

SaraB wrote:

People just see pointy ears and a long snout and think wolf!

Heh. That's what I was thinking. While not as bad as pits I'm sure, the label "husky" gets thrown around way too much. I'm just thankful so many people around here (northern Colorado) are familiar with them and have no bias against the breed.

Yeah look up huskies on petfinder and it's crazy what some people call huskies! I'm sure there's a rare breed of dog out there that looks like a husky that you could pass your husky off as. lol. My mom is amazing at finding these rare breeds and saying the rescue dogs she gets are those breeds. Sometimes it's quite a stretch, but not always. She has one dog that looks like a total shaggy mutt, but she found some weird breed that actually looks like it.

I told my insurance that I got a husky puppy after the fact after reading about Val researching that stuff. The lady told me it was no problem. They just don't cover dog stuff, so if anything happens I just have to pay for it. Fine with me.

MelissaI wrote:

tlh0012 wrote:

Ok this is completely outrageous. My two huskies are the sweetest babies in the entire world. Everyone that meets them falls in love with them! They would never hurt anything. My adult husky can tell the difference between adults and babies, too, and is very gentle with babies. And all the research I did on the breed said that it was rare to get a husky that had an aggressive temperament. In my opinion, they are the sweetest dogs you will ever find!

Mya adores people too! She literally stops to try and say hello to every person she sees ( ears down...tail going 100 miles an hour..lol). She LOVES babies and kids too!!! On a few occasions she's gotten a hold of a friend of ours baby's sock, toy, or pacifier and she protects the babies things for like 2 weeks straight! Sleeping with it every night and not destroying it! For a husky not to destroy something that it "steals" is definitely love!

That about the baby is exactly how Blitzen is! Just today, I had my two year old nephew over here, and he climbed all over Blitzen, sitting on top of him, pulling his hair, poking him....all Blitzen did was lay there.

SaraB wrote:

Haha...did you read the description on huskies on that list? Says they are affectionate with people! Goodness. People just see pointy eat and a long snout and think wolf! It must be dangerous!

Malamutes were on that list too, but I was wondering if they are on most lists? Seems like less people know about mals. Maybe you could say your dogs are malamutes instead. Or just say all your dogs are mutts and you have no clue what breed they are. lol.

Malamutes aren't what I would call "agressive", but they are more protective/wary than huskies are.....if you read descriptions of those, you will see that they are usually described as good guard dogs. Huskies are never described as good guard dogs because all they will do is lick a stranger to death

Saw this list on aggressive breeds on MSN this morning and thought I would add it mostly because it's supposedly taken from insurers and on a couple of dogs actually gives some insights into why some insurers have them on the list. They also site incidents that many insurers look to when making their lists. This list is very similar to the list my home insurance follows, though huskies and mals aren't on the list for missouri.

10 breeds blacklisted by insurers

I wonder who it is that makes up these lists? When the pit bull ban came into effect here in our area, the newspaper did their own survey going to veterinary practices & hospitals in the city & asked for their "most aggressive dog" list & I can tell you, it was far from those posted on here! Labs, retrievers, collies & toy dogs were at the top of the list. Why? Because these dogs are known as good family pets, people aren't as diligent in teaching their kids to respect the dogs' personal space.

We've also been having "fun" with various insurance providers for our house meaning that when they think there's an issue with something based on hearsay, they latch on to it & refuse to find out the reality of it. It's absolutely ludicrous! I could go on with their ridiculous reasons on why they couldn't insure us for various issues but one that really got me was because we had horses & other recreational items... uhm... I live in the country on an agricultural zoned property (allowing animals & other things they didn't want to insure) with over 6 acres. The other is the roof... because it looks awful. It's the patina colouring of a superior roof shingle with copper bearing meant to last for many lifetimes if maintained. We had to send them scientific & historical data as well as 3 affidavits from contractors & roofers specializing in this type of roof to prove our roof was fine. now their reason to not insure? It would cost them too much to replace the roof should it get damaged by a freak of nature incident.

So yeah, just because it's on a list doesn't mean it's accurate if it wasn't the right sources that put together this list.

The thing about these lists is, while they are ridiculous and allow organized crime (insurance companies) to dictate to us what we can and cannot have and for how much, they still affect our everyday lives. We have been lucky. Our insurance provider specializes in farm situations and we have very few restrictions.