I think you're better off by creating a separate account for the rainy day puppy/dog fund. Somebody is going to be making money off yours. And only portion of the money you spend for the insurance will be going for the vet bill. After a year, you've spent $300 on the cheapest plan. Okay so there is the spay/neuter. (but if you include that then its $564. Typical charge for spayneuter can range anywhere from $25-$250). Shots are additional $100 or there abouts for the first year.

In just the first year alone, you can see that insurance is planning on making about $200 off of YOU. And most likely, your puppy will not need an expensive medical care the first year. A $2,000 vet bill in the first year is far less than 1 in 10... so the $200 that you give to the insurance and nine others like you will give the insurance company the $2,000 but they are betting that none of you will have that $2,000 vet bill. So they will be pocketing the money. They are there to MAKE MONEY.

Over the years, we have fostered many high risk kittens. Kittens separated from their mother and protection afforded by the mama cat's breast milk. We've had to bottle feed the kittens... Of all the kittens we've fostered, we have had only one occasion, where our vet bill was in $2,000 range. The kittens were in intensive care/isolation for about 4 days. And one other kitten whose front leg was snapped (broken). They all pulled through and are happy loving cats. I think we've fostered over 40 high risk kittens by now may be more... from which we have had 2 incidence where we had a very large medical bill, about $3,500 in total. Spread this over the number of kittens and it comes out to around $100.00 per kitten per year. And these are high risk. not your average pet.

On a regular puppy or cats the chances of having a very large bill would be much much lower.

So, what it comes down to is this, can you afford a $2,000 vet bill if something terrible happens and are you willing to take that chance? If you can handle that $2,000 vet bill (very unlikely) then you would be far better off to squirrel the money away in the rainy day puppy/dog fund.

Oh BTW, you can easily accrue $2,000 into the rainy day fund within a year or two. And just like health insurance for people they have disclaimer and other clauses which will limit their payout. Routine shots are most likely not covered. When they get old and have a chronic thyroid (somewhat common occurance in large breed dogs) these are not covered. Rimadyl for doggie arthritis are most likely not covered. (We also fostered dogs and have two of our own).

If you have a pure bred, the risks are going to be bit higher.

With our years of experience in fostering both dogs and cats, we've come out much better by creating our own rainy day fund.

Just a disclaimer on my part: your milage may vary.

just my 2cents.