the story of Oscar

With all the publicity lately about the push to bring in a law to protect dogs from cruel treatment in puppy farms - Oscar's Law - I looked around to find why the law is named after Oscar.

Warning - I cried when I read it. But Oscar WAS rescued.

In the report on Oscar, Debra Tranter, his saviour, says that she now realises that many of us can't cope with confronting images of suffering dogs and that we need to have hope that change can happen:

Tranter had been running Prisoners for Profit, an anti-puppy factory campaign that “bombarded people with horrific images”, which she now believes were too confronting.

“With Oscar’s Law, I feel I need to reach ordinary people with dogs, not necessarily dog people. I want it to be positive and empowering,” she says.

“Oscar’s Law aims to abolish puppy factory-farming and the selling of dogs in pet shops, but it’s not about showing negative images all the time and making it seem hopeless,” she explains. Tranter believes success will come from enabling consumers to make informed choices, so people know that if they buy from a pet shop, their money will keep dogs in those sheds.

I don't know Penny's breeder and can only hope we have not supported a puppy farmer. But as far as we know, she came from a suburban home in Melbourne, from a breeder known to our vet. (We bought her from the vet.)