South San Francisco resident Maggie Peat, a second-generation Standard Longhair Dachshund breeder, will return to the Cow Palace this year showing five of her dogs, but it’s their success outside the show ring that brings her the most pride. “I show my dogs as a validation to other people of the quality of my animals,” she says. Some of her top puppies are purchased by hunters in other countries because of the pups’ superior hunting and tracking skills. The short-legged scent hounds can track a target for miles and follow a burrowing animal into its underground den.

Most of Peat’s dogs, though, will be hunting crumbs under dining room tables — three quarters become pets, neither hunting nor competing. That doesn’t sound controversial, but there’s a good chance that almost all the breeders at GGKC have heard some pushback against their decision to show or sell purebreds.

It’s not the dog shows themselves, but the practices behind them that come under the most scrutiny. In a highly publicized 2008 split, the BBC stopped airing Crufts (the largest dog show in the world) after a 40-year partnership in response to a documentary that criticized the presence of recessive traits in some purebreds. Just last year, an American Kennel Club nominee for Breeder of the Year was convicted of animal cruelty in a case that pitted long-standing practices in the breeding community against new regulations.

Two of Cohen’s students from Emerald Hills, Emma and Goose (known professionally as GCH CH Aragon Emerald Hills RA JC NAJ NF CGC TKP and CH Aragon Golden Canyon RA SC NJP NFP BCAT CGC TKP). Though they have Grand Champion and Champion titles, respectively, these couch potatoes left the show world for a simpler life (and simpler names). (Photo courtesy of the owners.)

Susanne “Sam” Cohen is the owner of Fetch Sam!, a San Jose agility and training center that welcomes both shelter mixes and Grand Champion purebreds. She might stop by GGKC next weekend because she loves the dogs, but she has reservations about the industry: “For me, there’s too much human influence and a lot of money involved . . . When you attach money and winning, people do really ridiculous things.” Breeders work to eliminate harmful recessive traits commonly associated with purebreds, but the human influence in the changing look of breeds bothers Cohen. It’s that component of the culture that can lead to the genetic neurological diseases or at-home ear cropping that draw media attention.

“But that’s not the norm,” Cohen says of the sordid headlines. “[The] people up there love their dogs . . . If you want to know what kind of breeds are out there, and what breeds would be good for you, go to Golden Gate Kennel Club, and go talk to all those breeders, meet those dogs. Read the description of what the dog is for, and then go pick a dog logically.”

“A dog is everything we wish people could be,” says Trotter. (Photo courtesy of the Golden Gate Kennel Club)

Like Cohen, the Vice President and show chair of GGKC, Mike Stone, sees the show as an opportunity for education. Prospective owners, he says, need “to do their research . . . make sure they understand things about the breed . . . Are your dogs — are the parents OFA [Orthopedic Foundation for Animals] registered? Do they have a hip rating for dysplastic hips?” While some top breeders breed for the judges, all breeders breed for consumers, so an onus is on owners to be informed.

When it comes to the GGKC, locals well-versed on the competitive side of canine culture hold opinions as diverse as the dogs they love. While there’s a fair amount of dissonance, the argument for adoption and the tradition of purebreds can coexist — in the case of Hickson’s Dandies and her family’s shelter dog, under the same roof. “I think it’s wonderful that people want to go out and rescue dogs,” she says. “That’s great — all dogs deserve a home — but I’m trying to rescue a whole breed.”

Trotter, cozied up to an Elkhound in Carmel, no doubt, speaks from her 81 years of experience: “All you have to do is look over the broad spectrum of America today and nobody is in agreement on anything. So why should dog lovers themselves be totally in agreement on something?”