Visiting Pets and Kept Pets

Our insured had their son visit them with his two dogs. He does not live in the household.

One of the dogs became sick, vomited and had diarrhea on their wall-to-wall white carpeting, causing permanent damage.

I am aware that if this were the insured's dog or a "kept dog" there would be no coverage; however I'm not sure if this would be a "kept" dog under these circumstances.

Kentucky Subscriber

Since the son, the owner of the dog, was visiting the household, the dog was still under control of the owner, so the dog wasn't so much as being kept by the insured as visiting the insured. The wall-to-wall carpet is covered under coverage A, and there is no exclusion for visiting sick dogs, so the carpet is covered. Had the son left the dog in the care of the insured while the son was out of town, then the dog would have been kept by the insured, and the loss would be excluded.

 

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