• I stumbled upon this thread because I was trying to research Rock Creek Kennel in Meriden, KS because I had a bad feeling about them. We were looking to get a basenji pup earlier this year and found Rock Creek Kennel online. I was immediately skeptical as one of the first things I was told about purchasing a puppy is to be weary of breeders who will ship their puppies and accept PayPal straight from the website. We called the number from the Rock Creek website and had a number of questions to ask. We were told the information was on the website and did not receive any info from the man on the phone. We continued to do our research and found a breeder we are 100% confident in.

    I can't find too much about this kennel online except what has been stated on this thread already. I do find it extremely alarming that "Rockcreekk" is so confrontational to people who love the breed as you would expect him to. When I had questions for the breeder we used she always had a lot of good, pertinent information to educate me. I also believe Rockcreekk is lying about Harold Buzz Powell, the sex ofender living in Meriden, KS. On the Rock Creek Kennel Facebook page they show off their newly painted office. This "office" is the same house that is shown on Google Maps for the address where Harold Buzz Powell is known to live.

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=169979489750486&set=a.103994123015690.8662.100002153087698&type=3&theater
    http://www.homefacts.com/offender-detail/KSSOP15025/Harold-Buzz-Powell.html

    My motivation to responding to this it to warn other puppy buyers of Rock Creek Kennel. If you want to go and check it out and you feel comfortable buying a puppy from them perhaps we're all wrong but please do your research. If no one buys from them then they won't have a business. Just be a smart consumer.


  • Thank you for the post Shiya. If we can even stop one person from buying from a puppy mill it is one less 'sale' than they get. I am glad you found the information useful and confirmed your hunch about the breeder.


  • And if that information is correct it would make sense for him to want to work for himself rather than an employer because he'd have to disclose his sex offender status….either way...this guy makes me sick


  • Thank you, Shiya, for validating that the "crazy rescue people" aren't on a witch hunt. As several people have already stated, most of us on this forum are not officially rescue people, but we are in LOVE with the basenji breed. Sometimes when new people post on this forum about getting a new puppy, a long-term member will ask questions about who the breeder is (as what happened on the first part of this thread). I hope that new members understand that when someone asks "WHO?", "we" are not judging your decision, we just want to make sure that you understand the risks involved with using fly-by-night breeders. (And by risks, I'm referring not only to the initial puppy's health, but the long term effects of genetic diseases like Fanconi. It must be heart-wrenching to watch your beloved dog grow up, and then succumb to a disease that you had no idea even existed until it was too late…. 😞

    As for Rock Creek Kennels,the facts are on public websites. Since the owner of a FB page can delete photos at any time, I've downloaded the photos and attached them, so that IF RockCreekkk wants to come back and explain their situation, they can do so based upon facts, and without a machine gun filled with false counter-accusations. You can make your own decision whether the "office" is, in fact, the same house found on Buzz Powell's page (coincidentally, both buildings are #211).

    At the end of the day, this thread was initiated by a person who spent several hundred dollars on a sick basenji, and this new basenji owner came here for HELP and advice. There was no witch hunt to seek out the Rock Creek Kennels, but when this person came onto this forum with spit and vinegar, several of us wondered WHY? While I've never personally met any of the breeders that belong to this forum (i.e. Tanza in California, Sherwood in Georgia), these breeders KNOW about basenjis, and since basenjis aren't as predominant as other breeds, they operate in a tight circle. Many forum members here belong to the Basenji Club of America (BCOA), which is a non profit group dedicated to educating the public about the breed, and a place for dedicated breeders and basenji lovers to network. If you look at the Breeder referral list on the BCOA page, you will recognize several names from this string as supporters of the BCOA. (www.basenji.org)

    In my mind, that's part of walking the walk, and talking the talk. If you are a long term RECOGNIZED breeder by the BCOA, then I feel that you have "earned" the right to inquire about breeders who suddenly pop up on the internet as basenji breeders. I feel that these BCOA recognized breeders not only have the qualifications to ask those hard questions about testing and dog genetics, but they also have the personal experience to state how many puppies is too many…. without mud slinging, but based upon being experts in their field.

    Just because someone posts on the internet that they have 16 years of experience with dogs... that fact alone does not constitute that they have the experience to properly care for puppies.

    You stated earlier on this thread:

    This is going to be my last posting becasue you people could careless about tring to walk someone though changes. You just want to bad mouth someone. So you can all do whatever you want because I have better things to do that listen to lies from you.

    You have it wrong: People on this forum don't care less, they care MORE- and not necessarily about YOU, but about those little creatures called basenjis. If you're no longer associated with Buzz Powell, then you should disassociate with him on this web site, too. If you truly want help "walking through changes", there are MANY people on here that would be willing to help you… IF you are serious about changing!
    You must decide: do you want to become a legitimate dog breeder, or remain a puppy mill with over 60 puppies in "inventory"?


  • While I do not have a problem with a person's breeding practices being brought up on the forum, I feel uncomfortable about a discussion turning to a person's private life. Perhaps we should stick with commentary relating to the dogs and their welfare. Thank you.

  • First Basenji's

    I agree, Robyn.

    There's plenty of dirt on this kennel without having to ask anyone to make judgments on his private affairs. I would like to request that details irrelevant to this breeder's business and legal practices be struck from the conversation. [Edit: If other forum members feel that I have crossed an appropriate line, I will remove my content too; specifically, my intention in posting the identifying face photo of the Harold Buzz Powell "look-alike" was to help identify the owner of this kennel since its public version of its own history has been less than truthful.]


  • I have never seen so many Stupid people in my Life. You people come on here without all the facts and bad mouth someone and don't even know what you are talking about. I did some checking of my own and found out this Harold Buzz Powell doesn't even live in Meriden, KS any more and has for awhile. Yes, we happen to be renting the same house he use to live in. We had been searching for an office for awile and when it came available for rent we grabbed it. House do not come available for rent in Meriden very offen. Call the Sherriffs Department and you can verify this information. I did. I am not and have never been Harold Buzz Powell. Get your facts straight. Also Diania Rentrap is this so called lady thatsays her puppy had worms from us. I to this day have NEVER seen a single piece of paper to state this. The vet paperwork that we have and that was sent to us state the puppy was in great health and stated that. No where did it state the puppy had worms. Also with our Health Guarantee the puppy/adult dog does not have to come back to us to get a new one. When the puppy/adult passes then they can get a new one. The ones that came back was because the people couldn't afford the vet care for what was needed. You people can call me a puppy mill all you want. Get your facts straight. Yes, we may behind the times alittle on some of our test. We strip test instead of DNA. That is all changing this year but it takes time. Doesn't happen over night. At least we test. There are alot of breeders that don't even do that. We offer a Lifetime Gauarantee against any genetic defect but you all seem to complain about that too. Most breeders only offer a 1 year. Just seems to me that all you people want to do is complain about some thing. Also we Never deleted any pictures off of our Facebook page. What comments and pictures goes up there stays up there. You people really need to grow up. You don't care about tring to work with a breeder to change things all you want to do is find something and complain about it. I have better things to do than sit here and deal with your petty complaining about facts that aren't even true. You should check into things and get the facts straight before you go off on someone.


  • It takes a few weeks to get the cheek swabs and get the results and they have been available since September 2011. The linkage test since 2007 so there is not excuse for not having dogs tested before breeding. Again strip testing is only as good as the day it was done. If money is an issue and people can't afford to test they should not be breeding

  • First Basenji's

    @Rockcreekk:

    I did some checking of my own and found out this Harold Buzz Powell doesn't even live in Meriden, KS any more and has [sic.] for awhile.

    Well, it seems like the official Kansas Bureau of Investigation website would agree that Harold Buzz Powell hasn't lived in Meriden for "a while" – since 3/28/2012, which is coincidentally, right around when all this information here came to light. It's also interesting that they now list the previous address as an "employer" address. I sure do wish I had taken a screen capture when the official Kansas State website listed the 211 E Palmer address as the place of residence.

    I'm also not sure how you refute the eerie coincidence that Rock Creek Kennel shares the same house dog names (Snowflake the Bull Terrier, Stevie the red and white Basenji, specifically) as Thunder Ridge Kennel in that issue of Kennel Spotlight I referenced above.

    @Rockcreekk:

    Also we Never deleted any pictures off of our Facebook page. What comments and pictures goes up there stays up there.

    I lack the Photoshop skills to fabricate the photo I posted of the Harold Buzz Powell look-alike posing with Tinker the Doberman, captioned, "My Ugly Mug… and sweet Tinker when she was a pup," a photo which is clearly no longer visible in Rock Creek Kennel's albums.

    But this is getting tedious. I can't believe this is still going on. You have problems that are beyond my capacity to address. I hope you can get the help you deserve in good time. I'm just sorry for your dogs.


  • Curlytails I'm not the one who needs help. Its you who needs help. Maybe instead of making false claims you should get your facts straight. In 16 years of raising dogs I've never been treated this way. I bend over backwards for my customers. Yes, we do need to make a few changes but instead of tring to work with someone and point them in the right direction you accuse them of stuff that has nothing to do with them. You want me out of breeding well I'll have a vet herre in the morning to put down all the dogs so that way I'm not breeding. So go **** yourself. I'm done with all this ****. You have made the last false claim about me and my kennel. I'll send you pictures of all the dogs after the vet puts them down. May you go to HELL for this.


  • You don't care about tring to work with a breeder to change things all you want to do is find something and complain about it. I have better things to do than sit here and deal with your petty complaining about facts that aren't even true. You should check into things and get the facts straight before you go off on someone.

    Alright, Rock Creek, lets look at FACTS:

    Yes, we happen to be renting the same house he use to live in. We had been searching for an office for awile and when it came available for rent we grabbed it. House do not come available for rent in Meriden very offen.

    1. As you admit, the screenshot I posted above validates the house location at 211 E Palmer as YOUR "new office" for Rock Creek Kennels.
    Amazing coincidence that in a smidgen of a town (with an estimated population of 813), there happens to be only ONE available house to rent that presumably a "former dog kennel owner" left and a "new dog kennel owner" assumed to lease.

    2. According to the KBI website: Mr. Powell now lives in Paola KS, which is 94 miles away from his "current employer" .
    On public records, I found the tax records for this address. It is one house on 13 acres (zoned Agricultural).

    3. According to the KBI website: Mr, Powell now works at 101 E M St in Meriden KS.
    Neither Google maps nor Mapquest recognizes "M St" as a valid street address, so I went to the Jefferson County website to try to determine if this is, in fact, an address. No. "M Street" does not exist.

    4. Rock Creek Kennel's admitted BUSINESS office is located at 211 E Palmer Street. According to the Jefferson County Website, here's another
    FACT: this property is zoned as Residential, and is on a small piece of property (50 x 100 feet).
    http://www.jefferson.kansasgis.com/tax/TaxDetail.asp?Parcel=173-07-0-30-12-002.00-0

    What I don't know is where Rock Creek Kennel maintains their inventory of 60+ puppies? I don't have that FACT: do you care to enlighten us, Rock Creek?

    5. FACT: You may have "16 years of experience" with dogs, but your business called "Rock Creek Kennels" did NOT exist on the world wide web until 11-30-2010. Coincidentally, Thunder Ridge Kennels was investigated by the USDA in March 2010 and their license was cancelled by the USDA on 10-6-2010.

    http://www.statscrop.com/www/rock-creek-kennel.com
    http://acissearch.aphis.usda.gov/LPASearch/faces/CustomerSearch.jspx

    These, Rock Creekkk, are FACTs, or as I clearly stated, "Coincidental events".

    On several of your posts, you have made cried foul because people here are not TRYING to help you.
    Another FACT: you did not come to this forum proactively to ask for help! You haven't introduced yourself as a "new breeder" with questions or concerns about best practices. No, you arrived on this forum to defend your practices.

    Why was this string started again? Very simply, because one of YOUR puppies SUFFERED from "Giardia and a BELLY FULL OF WORMS". The owner of this puppy came here for HELP, not to complain about you!

    I've taken the time to post all of these links so that when someone in the future Googles "Rock Creek Kennel", they will see this thread. Readers can read all of these posts and make their own decisions if you are legitimate and your best interests are based on profit, or if you are truly concerned about the basenji's breed posterity.

    And as my kids would say, the horse is dead. Peace, out.


  • Its funny this person who said they got a puppy with a belly full of worms has NEVER EVER been back on. Hmmm wonder why that is?? Its because they have NO Proof. They just came on to start a problem. Also Where Mr Powell lives or works is No Concern of Mine. I could care less. Seem like you only care about him and have nothing better to do with your life. Meriden is a small town and Houses do not come available for Rent Very offten. We needed a office intown and as soon as a house came available we rented it. I could careless who had it before us. We are there Now and Love having an office in town. Our Kennel is 10 miles away. Right Between Meriden and Valley Falls off K-4 Hwy. Our Kennel is located down 5 miles of Gravel Road. Alot of our Customers Do not like Coming down Gravel and out State Inspector Recommended that we have an Office for pickup off site. There was a Shelter Last Year that had to put down a bunch of dogs due to Parvo and Distemper. So August of last year we stared looking and found a place. Excuse me for not checking with you first. Why should I come on here and ask for help when all I've gotten since I joined is people making false statments toward me. Not 1 of you has offered to help steer us in the right dirstion. You all state who things should of been done this way or that. We after tomorrow you won't have to deal with our Kennel or our Dogs. Our vet won't come out to put down our dogs because he says I'm over reacting to you people. Well I've had it so I have a vet coming out from topeka. I'm don't with you people. You don't know your ass from a hole in the ground. You want to accuse people of stuff and not know what you are talking about. Also I looked at the internet too and called the Sherriffs department too. Its not M street is E Main Street. I could careless where this man lives or works. Sounds like you need to get a life and leave him alone. The Sherriffs department said that too. I faxed them this entire thing. They asked for a copy so I gave it to them. Leave the poor guy alone. What he or anyone else is doing with there life should be No Business of yours.


  • And Plus Rock Creek Kennel is Only a Busness Name and has Been around for 16 years. My State Lic and all my paperwork regarding my Kennel is in My Name. All Registration has to be in a persons name not a business and for tax reasons its easier to have it in my name. Plus we never advertised on the Internet till about 3 years ago. We are not that big of a Kennel and never really had too till the economy went way down hill. You really need to get your noises out of other peoples business and start tending to your own life.


  • @Rockcreekk:

    We after tomorrow you won't have to deal with our Kennel or our Dogs. Our vet won't come out to put down our dogs because he says I'm over reacting to you people. Well I've had it so I have a vet coming out from topeka.

    For someone who deeply loves and is commited to their dogs you would have to be deeply disturbed to do what you claim you are doing. No **** your vet won't come out and euthanize 63 dogs, because that is plain stupid and crazy. I hope you get the help you so desperately need.


  • I do love my dogs but I'm tired of you people on here making up lies and harrassing me and my Kennel. I'm DONE I'M DONE I'M DONE. You people have lied and made up crap. You have never said you were sorry for all the Lies you made. I can see why Kennels don't deal with Rescue and show breeders. You guys don't care about the truth. Anything to harrass someone till they cave. Well I'm tired of dealing with all your LIES. I keep pointing out your lies and you keep coming back with more. You say putting down the dogs is plain and stupid well maybe you should look at yourselves. You are the ones who have pushed me to it. I don't need mental Help YOU poeple on here do. Look at how you talk to people. Get your FACT Straight before you start harrassing someone.


  • There's nothing the sherrifs department is going to do because it's not deformation, all the claims are substantiated by evidence; both about your kennel and this buzz man! funny you don't care about this "guy" but you care enough to talk to the sheriffs department ( which I don't believe). Also, I'd think the reason you have an offsite "pickup" office is because you don't want consumers to see the kennel! Driving down a grael road to pick up a puppy is minuscule and the fact that would deter people from getting a dog is heinous. I'm all for you putting the dogs down if that means you stop breeding, you clearly don't know enough about the breeds health issues to be breeding in the first place. It's sad but a small price to pay in the larger picture of all future dogs you would have had.


  • @Rockcreekk:

    Not 1 of you has offered to help steer us in the right dirstion. You all state who things should of been done this way or that. We after tomorrow you won't have to deal with our Kennel or our Dogs. Our vet won't come out to put down our dogs because he says I'm over reacting to you people. Well I've had it so I have a vet coming out from topeka. I'm don't with you people. You don't know your ass from a hole in the ground. You want to accuse people of stuff and not know what you are talking about.

    Uhm, okay, because some people you've never met on an internet board you've only been to a handful of times and have said (repeatedly?) that you're not going to return to have angered you, you're going to kill 63 of your fine perfectly healthy dogs? Really?! I may not know my rear from a hole in the ground, but I can assure you nothing anyone on any virtual society could convince me to kill my dogs.

    And I may have missed something in this thread, but exactly what sort of question did you ask that needs guidance? People on this board are very knowledgeable and usually happy to help irregardless of what has happened in the past.

    totally unrelated quote:
    A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.


  • post deleted, duplicate


  • RockCreekk:'
    I am not an expert, nor am I perfect, but I will offer you advice to "steer you in the right direction." I have had Basenjis for over 20 years, have bred relatively sparingly, but every breeding had a purpose - to improve the breed and to introduce and educate others to these wonderful dogs. I have owned other breeds; Boxers, German Shepherds, Poodles and have rarely been without a dog my entire life. When I didn't have dogs, I always had cats, rats, hamsters, parakeets, tropical fish… We currently show in conformation, occasionally lure course, and have previously shown in obedience (not with the Basenjis - the Shepherd and the Poodle) I am hoping to learn tracking. These are my 'credentials.'

    The first thing I would suggest to you is that you pick one or even two breeds to specialize in. The rest of your dogs should be spayed or neutered and placed in loving homes. Not euthanized, how barbaric! You may have to overcome your own prejudice and allow many of your dogs to go to ---- Breed Rescue! They have the contacts and resources to find homes much more quickly and easily than you can as an individual. Then, once you're down to a reasonable number of dogs, have all of them tested for inherited genetic issues as well as breed specific issues. For Basenjis, minimum testing would include hips, eyes, Fanconi DNA testing. Thyroid and HA could probably wait unless you see symptoms of thyroid problems, HA is not always routinely performed any more, although many breeders do test for it. Go through OFA and have all results publically available. Next, show your dogs in conformation or participate in performance events. This gives you outside confirmation of the quality of your dogs, not just you thinking how cute they are. Other knowledgeable owners, breeders, and judges will have the opportunity to evaluate your breeding program and offer help and direction. If you aren't comfortable with AKC, there are other venues, United Kennel Club is an alternative. Become aware of the national breed clubs and what they have to say about health issues in the breed as well as mentoring possibilities, seminars, and advice on screening homes for placement. Joining the national breed club would be a good thing. Get on a number of discussion lists and read what people have to say. Digest it, process it, and try not to respond unless you have considered your response and how it sounds. And one more thing - get involved in rescue, no matter what your opinion of 'those rescue people.' You can be a force for good and for helping the animals you love. There are many ways to be involved - fostering, transport, coordinating, evaluating homes, referring people...

    Hoping that you eventually hear what people are trying to say - yes, some of what is said here is angry and impulsive, but we're ALL here because we love our dogs and especially our Basenjis. Sometimes our temper gets the best of us all.

    Terry


  • Just had to add one last thing. Please, if/when you breed another litter, send them to HOMES with families, not to customers. (that was just an irritant when I read it. Words are powerful.)

    Terry

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