“Pet insurance that covers dog training, too?” ... Insurance Research Institute proposes preventive product

[Financial News] A proposal has emerged that pet insurance, which has focused on covering treatment costs for companion dogs’ illnesses and injuries, should evolve into “preventive insurance” that also supports early-life socialization training and behavior modification. Because behavioral problems can lead to relinquishment or abandonment and cause policies to lapse early, insurers need to intervene directly in the pet-rearing process to secure long-term customers.
On the 11th, Song Yun-a, a research fellow at the Korea Insurance Research Institute, said in a report titled “Early-Life Socialization and the Role of Pet Insurance” that “pet insurance needs to expand beyond retrospective compensation for illness and injury to help with early-life socialization and the prevention and management of behavioral problems.”
The report analyzed 311,090 rescued animals registered in the National Animal Protection Information System from 2023 to 2025. Dogs accounted for 223,921, or 72.0%, of them. Of the rescued dogs, 43.5% were under 12 months old, while those aged 1–3 accounted for 34.4%. Euthanasia rates were highest in the early-life age groups: 36.5% for one-year-olds and 35.5% for dogs aged 2–3.
There were also substantial differences by behavioral traits. Among mixed-breed dogs, the euthanasia rate was 65.3% for those recorded as aggressive and 56.1% for those described as wary or fearful, far higher than the 36.9% rate for mixed-breed dogs overall. In a survey by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, “behavioral problems such as damaging belongings and barking” was the most common reason cited for considering giving up or relinquishing a pet, at 42.7%.
The Korea Insurance Research Institute analyzed that such behavioral problems are risk factors that can affect both pet insurance policy retention and loss ratios, in addition to animal welfare.
Pet insurance currently focuses on medical expense coverage, including hospitalization, outpatient care and surgery for illnesses such as patellar luxation, cancer and heart disease, as well as for injuries. But for companion dogs aged 0–2, the age group that accounts for most new enrollments, the first risks owners may face are everyday pet-rearing problems such as barking, nipping and destructive behavior.
For insurers, too, early-life behavioral problems are directly tied to securing long-term policies. Young companion dogs have relatively low health risks, so insurers can expect stable premium income if policies remain in force for a long time. But if behavioral problems lead to relinquishment or abandonment, insurers lose long-term customers early. Conversely, problems that lead to nipping or aggression could also increase the risk of incidents involving liability coverage riders.
The report’s central point is that insurers should go beyond paying treatment costs after an incident and also take on the role of reducing incidents and early policy lapses before they happen.
The report proposed providing policyholders with early-life socialization training or behavioral consultation and correction services, and offering partial premium refunds or renewal benefits when they complete the training. Another option is to link pet-rearing management with policy retention by offering benefits such as reduced deductibles on policies maintained over the long term.
The report also discussed having insurers act as quality managers for behavior-modification services. They could select providers with appropriate qualifications, such as companion-animal behavior instructors, and standardize the number of sessions, rates and training protocols to reduce information asymmetry around service quality and pricing—both of which consumers may find difficult to assess.
However, South Korea’s pet-training services market lacks official data on its size and pricing, and the effects of behavior modification can vary depending on the individual animal and its rearing environment. Further validation of the services’ effectiveness and costs is therefore needed.
Research Fellow Song said, “If insurers manage companion animals’ socialization and behavioral problems from early in life, they can reduce abandonment and relinquishment while also preventing early lapses in insurance policies and liability-related incidents,” and added, “This makes it necessary to develop pet insurance from a product that simply reimburses medical expenses into one that manages companion animals throughout their entire life cycle.” 

[email protected] Hong Ye-ji Reporter