About Us:
Kiko Bisbee has been breeding and showing dogs in Excelsior Springs, Missouri since 1980. She has had the pleasure of working with Doberman Pinschers, Rottweilers, Akitas, Pomeranians, Brazillian Mastiffs, Chinese Cresteds and Sphynx cats. She has found the Chinese Cresteds and Sphynx cats to be the most enjoyable - No shedding! Her home is full of memories of each of the beloved breeds that she worked with. As her favorites have grown in age she now only breeds the Chinese Cresteds. Her love of animals is contagious to everyone she meets.
Kiko’s enthusaism for the Chinese Crested Breed grew to include her friends, Deb Pumphrey, Jennifer Gruba and Mary Ann Attebery. What started out to be one person’s interest turned into a great way to spend time with friends, doing the things we love. Dog shows have turned into an opportunity to catch up and spend time with each other and our dogs. Nothing can be better than that!
Here is a little about the rest of us that make up the other parts of Dare To Be Bare.
Deb and Kiko have been friends since 1977. Deb has been involved in the breeds that Kiko has worked with over the years. Recently she has begun to show her Cresteds with a lot of success. Her most recent accomplishment includes Best Puppy (Silver Bluffs Liz Clairborne AKA “Bitzy”) at the COWTOWN Chinese Crested Specialty in Dallas, TX in July 06 over 29 other Chinese Crested puppies from all over the country. She is now showing BOWIE, BITZY and BAILEY, and Lulu.
In 1995 Jen Gruba and Kiko met at an Exotic Bird (Parrot) Convention. They soon learned that they had a great deal in common. In 1998 Jen got her first Chinese Cresteds from Kiko. Since then, between trips to visit in Missouri and attending dog shows together, Jen has started to get involved in the showing of her dogs. Last January her Daretobebares Ruby Red Panda Bare (AKA “Ruby) took Best of Breed both days (4 point majors both days) at the Land O’Lakes Kennel Club show held in Minneapolis at the River Centre. She was only 11 months old. Ruby finished in May of 2006. Jen will be concentrating on finishing her new male Daretobebare Fabio and her new female Silver Bluff Raisin A Ruckus
In 2000 Mary Ann got her first Chinese Crested from Kiko and has been working closely with her ever since. Mary Ann has retired from nursing and now enjoys spending her time with her much loved Crested kids. She is our Powderpuff person. She enjoys grooming the powderpuffs so of course we all look to her to keep our puffs in their beautiful show coats. She has worked with Giant Schnauzers and horses over the years. Her show dogs include Silver Bluff Lady of Steel as well as others she will be starting in 2007.
As you will notice there are a lot of Silver Bluff dogs on our site. Over the last few years, we have been fortunate enough to become friends with Barbara Fisher of Silver Bluff. Her knowledge and expertise has helped our breeding program by leaps and bounds. She has improved the quality of the DareToBeBare puppies and taught us all a lot about the bloodlines and the traits involved in each. She has amazing Cresteds and has been improving the Chinese Crested breed since the 1980’s. We can’t thank her enough for all that she has taught us and continues to teach us about this amazing breed. THANKS BARBARA!
