A deposit is a non-refundable $250 that goes towards the purchase price of the puppy. If the litter is not born yet, or still very young, then we do accept personal checks since we have more than two weeks for a check to clear. We also accept PayPal, Venmo and Zelle. Puppies are chosen in order of deposits received. If you request a male with perfect ridge and crownes, and then when it is your turn to pick there are no males with perfect ridges and crownes, then the deposit IS refundable OR you may move it to the next litter, your choice The deposit is also refundable if the female you put the deposit on is NOT pregnant.

If you put a deposit down ahead of a litter being ready to go, then this is how picking works. Puppies are chosen around five to six weeks of age. Most people choose from the dozens of pictures of each pup, and litter videos that I post online. I do my best to answer any questions you might have about personality, etc. and send you information with vet check and personality notes. If you want to come pick out your puppy in person, that is okay as long as you are able to do it in a timely manner. Plan on coming the weekend the pups are 5 or 6 weeks old, and please remind me! Usually you will have to come before you might know which pups are chosen ahead of you, and we encourage you to pick out your top 2 or 3 favorites at that point. Picking your puppy needs to happen fairly quickly once we start the process. We encourage you to start thinking about your favorites BEFORE the picking starts, so that we can move quickly through the list. We often have 10 or more people waiting and it just takes too long if everyone decides to take several days to pick once it gets to be their turn to pick. Once you come to pick up your puppy, IF there are any other puppies available, you may switch at that point. Also, when it is your turn to pick, if you have decided to wait for a future litter for whatever reason, that is ok. You can just move your pick to the next litter. However, once you "pick" a certain puppy, you will lose your deposit if you back out after that. After we go through the deposit list, if we have pups available and you don't have a deposit down, then you are welcome to come out in person and pick a pup, or pick from all the information online. We can't hold a pup without a deposit. However, if you are driving out to see a specific pup, we won't take a deposit on that pup until after you've had a chance to meet the pup. We wouldn't want someone to drive out here just to find there are no available pups when they get here.

Our puppies can leave at 8 weeks of age, a few days after their 8 week vet check. If you need a puppy held for longer than that, we are usually able to do so. We generally charge $25 a week to hold a puppy after 9.5 weeks of age, but that is to help cover costs of food, shots and worming that we keep up to date. Whenever you put a deposit down on a pup that is ready to go, our policy is to hold it for one week for free, and then we charge $25 a week.

Yes, we ship puppies anywhere in the continental US for $550 and up. We have been shipping puppies for over 15 years now. We usually use a company called Ozark Jet a Pet to book your flight. They fly out of St. Louis on Fridays, weather permitting. We would pick a shipping date that works for both of us and I book the flight on my end and send you all the information as soon as the flight is confirmed. The puppy gets a special vet visit to get his health certificate in your name that he needs to fly. You would pick up your puppy at the airport by showing your photo ID. Your puppy will come in a crate, with a leash and collar and bag of food on top. Sometimes AA doesn't fly close enough to a customer, or their temperature requirements make it so we can't use them. When you pick up your puppy at the airport, you will get it either at cargo, or at the baggage claim office, depending on the airport. NO, the pups are not put on the baggage carousels. Yes, the area of the plane where the pups ride IS climate controlled. No, puppies do not enjoy being shipped, but I have never had one harmed or traumatized by being shipped. Shipping my puppies is the best way for me to get them quickly and safely to loving homes all over the United States. The puppy will be awfully glad to see you at the other end and is ready to be comforted and loved on after their long day! We have had pups shipped to us from South Africa (Aslan), Russia (Timka and Oksana) and the Ukraine (Tzeitel) and they all arrived safe and sound and are well adjusted dogs. Payment for the puppy, including shipping, is due in full (via PayPal, Venmor or Zelle) at least 48 hours before the shipment day. Most people send the payment after I send the flight information and they call and confirm it. If you are not using a form of electronic payment, then the payment via a check is due at least two weeks before the flight to give it time to clear before shipping. Besides AA cargo shipping we do have some puppy nanny options (they fly in the plane with the pup), but a Ridgeback grows very fast, so a pup can not be over 10 weeks if choosing that option. Even at 10 weeks, so big pups might be too large to fit in the required in cabin crate. A puppy nanny is more expensive and you should expect to pay $700-1200, depending on the nanny. There are also various ground shipping options we can look into. Those can be less expensive (sometimes as low as $400) depending on where the pup is going, but often they have several pick ups and drop offs along the way. We are pretty selective about who we will trust to take our pups. Lastly, if you are within 3 or 4 hours of us, we have several people (mostly young people) that earn extra money by delivering pups for us. Delivery to Kansas City and St. Louis is generally $250.

We prefer cash for the remainder owed when you pick up your puppy. However, we will also accept PayPal, Venmo and Zelle. We will not accept checks. If using an electronic form of payment, please know what your daily sending limit is ahead of time. We recommend bringing some towels and/or baby wipes to clean up any messes if your pup gets car sick on the ride home (some do, but most outgrow it as they get older). You will probably want to hold your puppy on your lap (or your kid's lap) on the ride home. He/she may not be used to being alone and will probably cry when put in a crate by themselves for the first time. Trust me, you don't want to be stuck in the car with that for any length of time! However, it's a good idea to bring a crate to put the puppy in if you stop to eat or anything else where you might leave the puppy alone in the car. We ask that you don't bring other dogs with you when you come, or if you do, that you have them stay in the car. Our new dogs are all quarantined and tested for diseases before they are allowed to socialize with our current dogs. We do like meeting pups from our past litters, so if you want to bring one, please give us a heads up and we will make sure all our dogs are put up before yours gets out of the vehicle to say hello.

I am State licensed and inspected and USDA licensed and inspected. These inspectors show up with no warning to inspect, so we are subject to inspection at any time. The USDA license is required for any breeder that ships a puppy--whether by ground or air. I am also inspected by my Veterinarian and the AKC. That's up to six inspections per year! I am also a member of the AKC Bred With Heart Program which requires canine parents to be health tested in accordance with the breed's National Breed Club. In reality, I do more than double the standard recommended health tests on my adults. I am also a member of Kansas Pet Professionals, and when in Kansas I was vice president of our local group, Tri-State Premier Pet Association. Both groups promote education in the animal husbandry community.

We are very involved in health testing and we get OFA (https://www.ofa.org/) certifications for hips, elbows, eyes, hearts, thyroids and patellas, as well as DNA testing for Degenerative Myelopathy, Hemophilia B and Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy via PawPrint Genetics (https://www.pawprintgenetics.com/).

Our puppies all come with a two year genetic health guarantee, first shots, worming, dew claws removed, two thorough vet checks, AKC microchip, limited registry AKC papers and puppy starter items (leash, collar, food). Our starter pack includes information about the vitamins, probiotics and other helpful items. We use and highly recommend NuVet Plus immune boosting wafers or powder. NuVet helps build whole body wellness. It contains human grade amino acids, vitamins, enzymes and antioxidants that work together to fill in the nutritional gap that exists in virtually all pets. Puppies especially are stressed and vulnerable as their immune system is ‘under construction’. They offer a 60 day money back guarantee and have never been recalled during their 20 years of business. You may order at www.nuvet.com/42997 or call 800-474-7044 and speak to their knowledgeable customer service representative.

Since moving to Missouri in 2020, we were able to build an all new facility for our dogs and pups. So while it is no longer attached to our house as it was in Kansas (it's those Ozark hills!) it is next to our house and there are generally more people out with our dogs and puppies than in my house! With over 100 acres on our farm, we are able to have big yards (fields!) for our dogs to run and play in. In fact, we often have a goat, horse or donkey in the same yard when the dogs are not out (for safety reasons). The building the pups are raised in has a large indoor area for each litter with access to a doggie door to go outside as soon as the pups are old enough and the weather permits. We have started using potty pans for the pups when they are little and only inside, that we then move to the outside so that they get used to going outside to potty. I believe that puppies that are raised outdoors with lots of room are healthier, happier and easier to train in general, so when the weather is agreeable, they are usually outside in big yards. Once the pups are old enough, we often will put several litters (of around the same age/size) together (if we have more than one litter) so they can socialize and play, and our mamas are usually great at co-parenting. We start our pups with the early neurological stimulation method as part of our plan for raising healthy, well adjusted dogs. When they are a little older, we expose them to other dogs and plenty of noises and different surfaces to walk on. If the pup is still here after 9 or 10 weeks of age, we also start crate training--the pups spend time alone in a crate during the day and we gradually increase the time they spend so that they learn to hold their bladder until we let them out to potty. My sister in law, Nikki, and her family live on the property with us and she and her kids work with us loving on and caring for all these pups, as do my 3 children. We also have several teens and adults that come in weekly to clean, groom, socialize pups, and help with pictures etc. so our pups get lots of attention and handling. My kids and my nephews frequently have a pup tucked in with them on the couch while watching tv or doing homework. We consider all our dogs pets and they are all well loved members of the Black Powder Farm Family. You are welcome to contact us with any questions or issues for the life of your pup! And we will always take a pup back no matter how old the dog is.

Sometimes our puppies pick up parasites that are perfectly normal to farm living such as worms, coccidia and giarrdia. The latter two parasites can be difficult to detect and are normal to find in any farm dog. They do not cause a problem in a dog unless the dog becomes stressed and then it activates the parasite which can cause diarrhea which can be severe. There are inexpensive medicines to clear this up. That being said, we treat ALL our puppies repeatedly for these parasites. However, occasionally a puppy will pick something up again after treatment and before it goes to it's new home. We are always working harder to find ways to prevent this, but we want you to know that it is normal and we consider it to be a minor downside to puppies and Mamas that truly get to enjoy life and are NOT kept constantly on wire or only in kennels. Our dogs are healthy and happy and your puppy will be too. We just like to give people an honest head's up so you know what to expect just in case. The majority of our puppies do not have parasites when they go to their new homes. No, your kids are not going to get these parasites from your puppies. I've never had to worm my kids and they live with these farm dogs and are constantly barefoot. The giarrdia that I am referring to is not the same strain that humans get. I believe the dogs build their own immunities to these things. I've never had a dog or pup seriously sick from giardia or coccidia (and probably in part because we do treat regularly). With my adult dogs we only treat twice a year as part of our regular health maintenance.

I get asked this a lot, and I used to answer that I have kids I still need to potty train! I can't use that excuse any more though, haha. While we don't complete the house training, we do give them a good foundation of potty training. When they first start to toddle around, we give them a potty tray and encourage them to use it. Then when they are big enough to start going outside using the doggie door (we prop it open till they learn to use it) then we move the potty tray outside and eventually take it away. If we have a pup past 10 weeks, then we also start crate and leash training. We put the pup in a crate for a few hours and slowly work up they amount of time they are in the crate, keeping track of whether they have any accidents (if they do, we shorten the amount of time in the crate).

All of our registered puppies are sold with limited registry papers, unless negotiated otherwise. This means you agree NOT to breed your dog. Usually a full registry puppy costs more. If you are planning to breed your puppy someday, we expect you to be honest and upfront with us. If we should decide to sell you a puppy with full breeding rights, we want to make sure we help you choose a healthy puppy that meets breed standards. We also want to work with people that will have the same standards and policies of honesty that we think are very important when it comes to breeding. We do NOT require you to get your puppy fixed since we know that some people have strong feelings about this for one reason or another. However, we strongly recommend it. A dog that is going to be bred should be chosen carefully with certain things in mind. When we have decided to sell a dog with breeding rights, we like to work with the person to give them any needed advice and guidance for as long as they should need or want it. We learned plenty of things the hard way and we don't want anyone else to have to do that!

No, at this time we do not show our Rhodesian Ridgebacks. We stay busy enough with the farm and the kids' sports and rodeo activities. However, we feel confident that our Rhodesian Ridgebacks would hold their own easily in a ring! (We have attended AKC shows when we lived in Wichita.) We have taken some of our dogs to some smaller, local dog shows and were quite pleased when Jasira took Best in Show at one of them!

We are certainly not a puppy mill. We do breed Cavaliers and Cavapoos in addition to our ridgebacks. My sister in law and her family also live on our farm and are very involved in working with our dogs. All our pups are handled and played with by our children as well as by my husband and I, and the several young ladies that work for us, as well as local families that visit to play with dogs and puppies. Socialization is a big part of our program! Our dogs are important to us and we think it is important for them to be able to run around and not always be kenneled. I know the name and personality of every dog here. They are contributing members of our family and we value and love them as such! You will frequently be greeted by large dogs and small dogs when you come to our place. We have been breeding Ridgebacks the longest and they are our first love. Another Ridgeback breeder introduced us to the Cavaliers, and we felt they were the perfect complement to the Ridgebacks (they are just about opposites! ) Lynn’s Animal Science degree is put to good use! And what better use of a farm, than to fill it with healthy, happy dogs? We never have any coyote problems…

Rhodesian Ridgebacks are great with children! My husband had one when we got married (over 14 years ago now!) and when we started looking into breeding and getting more Ridgebacks, that was one of my primary concerns. Now I’ve had quite a few RRs and several of them have come to me full grown–some of them with no experience with children–but every single one has been very good with my kids! I trust all 6 of my RRs with my kids. They’ve taken food out of their mouths, sat on them, and have never been harmed–other than the occasional getting knocked over by such a big dog! If properly socialized, they are good with other dogs too. Especially if fixed. I have a pair of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, a couple of toy poodles and one Golden Retriever here and I trust all my RRs with them except for one cranky female. But hormones have alot to do with her mood swings! I have a tiny 6 lb poodle that sleeps on top of my RRs and actually slept with one of my females and her puppies and the female didn’t mind at all. I was actually a little surprised by that one! Now the puppies think that the poodle is their smaller, fluffier sibling!

Rhodesian Ridgebacks were bred to be hunting dogs. They love to chase! They are chasers more than killers. However, once they learn to kill prey, it can be hard to break them of it. If you have cats or small farm animals, make sure you get a young puppy and train him well from the very beginning. Lots of Ridgebacks get along with cats and other small farm animals, but be aware of their tendencies and nip any potential bad habits in the bud. Rhodesian Ridgebacks are more likely to learn to kill if they are in a group. The group mentality gets them worked up and excited. So if you have cats or small farm animals, I don’t recommend owning a lot of Ridgebacks or other dogs with a high prey drive. We have horses, cows and calves on our farm and our Ridgebacks do fine with them. We have not had good luck with chickens! We have 4 smart barn cats that knows which Ridgebacks they can trust and when.

Dew claws are the extra toes and claws that a dog has on his front and sometimes back feet. These toes do not touch the ground and so the toe nail is not natural worn down in any way. Sometimes these toes can be snagged on something and get ripped off an adult dog. We easily remove these extra toes during the puppy’s first week of life.

A Rhodesian Ridgeback with a perfect ridge, has a ridge topped by two crownes, or swirls, at the top. These crownes are just swirls of hair, like you have on the back of your head. They should be evenly spaced across from each other. Sometimes a Rhodesian Ridgeback is born with crooked crownes, just one crowne, or 3 or more crownes. These are just cosmetic flaws, but the puppy would not be considered show material.