While I am against breeding, period, as far as contributing to overpopulation goes, that also applies to "responsible" breeders who breed to "better" the breed in terms of health and temperament (temperament that is convenient for and desirable by humans, that is). They aren't all that rare in the dog showing world, from what I understand. These are the people who scrutinize genes, individual traits, traits of dams/sires and their dams/sires many generations back, their entire lines and their ancestors' lines. They track down every relative of the bitch and potential stud they can and see how they are performing (btw, just to throw this in, a Champion title is almost meaningless). They take everything they can into account to bring together the two mating dogs who best complement each others' desirable and undesirable traits. They go to great lengths to research and give the best of care to their dogs, often doing things like BARF diets. They spare no expense, veterinary monitoring is assumed, cutting corners is out of the question. Every dog in their "kennel" lives in their house, each is known and loved as an individual. The litter is kept in optimal conditions. The puppies are weighed, tested, whatever else. They are socialized with many other dogs and dozens of humans by the time they are two months old, along with being already trained to basic cues such as sit and down. The buyers of puppies not being kept by the breeder have been thoroughly screened, the purchase contract is thorough, and they have been on a waiting list for years. The breeder may lose over $10,000 on this one litter.
They are still putting dogs in homes, including their own, that obviously have the resources to give good care to dogs on death row. The question is of willingness. They are willing to provide good homes to purebred dogs who are top candidates for the show ring, who are part of a gratifying pet (no pun intended, damn) project/hobby. Will they open their hearts to dogs, purebred or not, good for the show ring or not (many do quite well, mixed breeds just can't be shown for conformation obviously), good for that type of ego building or not? That is the question.