Insurance Report: 'Beware of Dogs'.

In recent years, there has been a lot of attention paid to mold damage and the insurance industry's response to this peril, but water damage is not the only thing that can restrict a homeowner's access to insurance. Pets, it turns out, are a leading cause of liability claims under insurance policies.

That's because dog bites are the largest source of liability losses in homeowners' insurance policies, according to the American Association of Insurance Services.

Dog bites contribute to $250 million of liability losses a year, according to the Insurance Information Institute.

The industry has also become wary of homes with popular recreational features that might create liability risk, according to the AAIS.

Trampolines and swimming pools can sometimes cause a homeowner's insurance carrier to think twice about extending coverage for a property.

When insurers read that other companies are restricting coverage, those restrictions tend to spread within the industry, because nobody wants to become the insurer of choice for people with pit bulls and trampolines, the AAIS warned in a recent article about household ...