I'm interested in this topic mainly because animals are something most people can relate to because many of us have household pets. Being able to compare the life of an average dog in a home to what these dogs in puppy mills experience every day is touching eye-opening. This research question strengthens my values against animal cruelty because what I've read about puppy mills so far has shown how awful these animals are treated, and I think that's wrong. I don't have a personal experience relating to this, but I have been to a pet store and seen some of the dogs eat their feces. I also noticed how bad they smelled in the pet stores which can all relate to how they are breed and treated in puppy mills. I'm qualified to write about this because of the research I've completed on this topic so far. 

In an article called "Mental Health of Dogs Formely Used as 'Breeding Stock' in Commercial Breeding Establishments" the author explains an experiment that was carried out to determine if dogs kept in puppy mills have behavioral and psychological abnormalities compared to the general dog population. There has been evidence suggesting welfare of dogs in these establishments is poor, but there hasn't been much scientific evidence. This study was then the first one to prove "dogs maintained in these environments [are] reported to develop long-term fears and phobias, compulsive behaviors such as circling and pacing, possible learning deficits, and are often unable to cope fully with normal existence."(McMillan). The author is credible because she's written many articles on puppy mills and works with the mental health of animals. 

In "Saving Gracie: How One Dog Escaped the Shadowy World of American Puppy Mills", an article by Carol Bradley, the conditions of puppy mills are explained and some of the effects those conditions have on the dogs. For example she explains how some dogs don't get the chance to learn to even walk because the cages they're left in don't allow them to even stand. Bradley is credible because she is a published author and studied animal law as a Nieman fellow at Harvard. 

"Captive Canines in Puppy Mills" is an article by Rachel Butz and it explains some of the conditions dogs live in, how puppy mills can affect the family that adopts the dog, and the life a puppy may live from coming from a puppy mill. Butz states dogs from puppy mills don't tend to live a long life because of the conditions they lived in and diseases they possibly encountered. She also explains how adopting a dog from a puppy mill can often lead to large veterinary bills because of the extent the family has to go to when they receive a sick dog. Rachel Butz may not be the most credible, but she was published by Skipping Stones and has written other articles dealing with problems with dogs and breeding.

This research question is arguable because you can either take the side that puppy mills do not create bad conditions for dogs and puppies or they do. Mostly all of my sources have agreed with my position that puppy mills do not provide dogs with safe conditions for living. Most of the arguments have been towards the cages being too small for the dogs, not getting time to play, not being cleaned or groomed, living in their feces and urine, and not being taken care of medically. There have been arguments that since almost 100% of dogs in pet stores come from puppy mills there wouldn't be any business in pet stores if they had no dogs to sell, but they could always adopt dogs from homeless shelters like the SPCA. The different perspective of not having puppies flowing into pet stores from puppy mills doesn't really change my perspective at all because the conditions and well-being of the dogs are more important than having a constant flow of puppies going into these stores. I may need to revise my research question in a way that can accommodate more counterarguments and reasons for keeping puppy mills. Or I may be able to find more information on that by researching why puppy mills have not been made illegal yet. My research question may also need to be made less broad and focus more on the effects that come from one condition or just the mental or psychological effects it has on the dogs. 

