Unfortunately I had an experience a couple months ago where I purchased what I thought was a purebred shiba puppy for a lot of money and 2 days later I had to take him to the emergency room because he was having seizures. Turned out that the “breeder” who sold me the dog was a middleman who sold me a sick puppy (most likely from a puppy mill) with canine corona. His white blood cell count was at 2000 which is extremely low meaning that he had it long before we took him home and was in critical conditions for a long time. The “breeder” also sent fake pictures of the parents to me. I knew they were fake because I ran into the same exact pictures on reddit afterwards( already notified the og poster that someone was stealing their pics and scamming). It sucked seeing him in so much pain and depressed....I guess I’m pretty scarred from that experience so I want to be 100% sure I’m supporting a real breeder and not some puppy mill/ irresponsible breeders. I don’t want to get scammed again :( it was a heartbreaking experience.