Pet Insurance Feedback?

[Mary, Scrappy, Sully and Olive]

I've done my research and have narrowed down my choices in pet insurance.  We have a 7 month old rescue who I'd love to start off with some kind of insurance. Learned our lesson big time with Grover, who we lost almost a month ago.  I'm pretty much making car payment size monthly payments for our bill :(

Anyway, I would love to hear any feedback on plans.  Most specifically.....what the ideal options might be.  Do I add an RX plan? Is there an ideal maximum payout and deductible? Is the wellness option worth the cost?  Thinking others that have used it will have some valuable advice. 

Currently I'm leaning towards Embrace.  My brother in law is pushing Nationwide, but I don't like the pay schedules.  I'm still open to others though.

Thanks for any and all experiences...positive and negative!!

[Mary, Scrappy, Sully and Olive]

thanks, fingers ALL crossed.

[Mary, Scrappy, Sully and Olive]

Now that the insurance dilemma is settled, I've moved on to my next puppy issue....just posted a question in Puppy Madness on the merits of attempting to crate a non crate trained older puppy. Any and all advice would be much appreciated, lol.  

[Stacy]

I'm having a similar discussion/conundrum about confinement over in the training group. Maggie is a little older than Sully - and the brief time I tried to put her in a crate she panicked. People had good suggestions for me about how to crate train. I think it's important for them to be comfortable in a crate, but given her history that she was crated a lot I think I will be happy with safe confinement (kitchen with not much available to get into.) I'm just not sure how easy it will be to take her on vacation if she can't be in a crate at all. Most places won't let you just leave them out. I'm going to be trying to figure all of this out with you!

[Mary, Scrappy, Sully and Olive]

That's probably where I should have posted......I'm going to check that group out.  Sully came to us non crate trained and I haven't wanted to frighten him.  The crate has been set up, but he won't tolerate the door shut at any point.  I've tried everything.  Scrappy, on the other hand, is delighted to have a safe place to get away from his puppyness, lol.  I have multiple gates, so have considered confining him in the event I have to go out, but he's a counter surfer and that would be my first area of choice.  I suppose, as long as there were nothing on the counters for him to get to.....but he'd probably grab a cord or something I never expected.  lol, probably pull the appliances right off.....honestly he's very grabby.  

[Stacy]

These guys definitely come with their own unique challenges. Ava was so easy. But I think she was so worn down from her past that she just didn't have any naughty left in her. I like that Maggie still has some spirit. I feel like there are a lot of things that I can do with her.

I don't know what to tell you about the crate. I haven't had any luck with it either, not that I've tried very hard. I think we just love them no matter what their little quirks are.

I also wonder if Maggie is just waiting to get shipped off somewhere else. Is that a thing that dogs understand? She's been shuffled around a lot. I wish I could just speak dog for a minute so I could tell her, this is it. You and me, kid. You're not ever going anywhere. Settle in, relax. This is the very last home you will ever have.

[Mary, Scrappy, Sully and Olive]

We've wondered the same. These poor sweeties. Every time we come home from a car ride, Sully actually looks relieved to come back into the same house :( It breaks my heart and I wish he and I could have that same conversation,lol. 

That's why I'm not pushing the crate too hard. He's gone through so many changes in his short life. I can easily live with no crate. A challenge maybe, but he's well worth it!

[Amy and Annabelle]

Aww, poor baby, your heart breaks for them. Years ago when the kids were still young we rescued an 18 month old Golden Retriever from the local shelter. Being it was a kill shelter he was scheduled for euthanasia later that evening. He seemed like such a sweetheart, but bigger than what we were looking for. Needless to say he came home with us. He had been abused by his owner but was still so loving. He did frighten easy, hated storms would hide in the shower until it passed, hated fireworks. One morning about 6am I let him out to do his business. I went to let him in and he wasn't at the door. Upon further investigation, I saw the SWAT team in my backyard. Some had guns on me, some on my dog. Poor Charlie was so scared, he was cowering. I thought neither one of us would recover from this nightmare. But he was back to his normal self before I was, though was more protective of me. Annabelle probably would have got herself shot. She would not be cowering, she is feisty. But in spite of his challenges, he was the best dog, we could have asked for. A gentle giant. It takes lots of love, patience and training with these rescues.