XL Bully owner warning to others after he 'thought he was doing everything right'
21.02.2024 - 19:35
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
An XL bully owner is warning others to check their pet insurance policies after receiving a nasty shock when he tried to make a claim for his XL Bully-Dogue de Bordeaux cross.
Nicholas Doherty, took out pet insurance with Asda in September last year. He registered three-year-old Pharaoh as a 'large cross-breed', making it clear to the company that the dog was part XL Bully.
It is a legal requirement for XL Bully owners to have public liability insurance for their dogs so when government restrictions on XL Bully ownership came into force on December 31, the 41-year-old contacted Asda to ask if the insurance policy was still valid reports the ECHO.
Nicholas from Southport said: "We thought we were doing everything right as responsible dog owners."
An Asda representative told him they would contact the underwriters and get back to him.
He didn't hear anything from the company, and his Asda insurance payment of £13.69 went out as usual at the beginning of the month, so he assumed the policy was still in effect.
When Pharaoh took unwell with an ear infection, Nicholas was shocked to learn the policy he'd paid for wasn't valid and Asda told him they wouldn't cover Pharaoh's £471 vets bill.
Nicholas said: "I was told they'd cancelled the policy because of his breed. There was no warning, no correspondence. They'd just cancelled it without telling me. And they'd taken my money.
"It's pure negligence. There's us thinking he's covered. As far as they knew, we'd been walking the streets without proper public liability insurance."
Thankfully, to ensure he was abiding by the new laws on XL Bullies, Nicholas had taken the extra precaution of paying for an additional public liability insurance with the Dogs' Trust, for £25 per year but the