My wife got into dog shows a few years back (just after the "Best in
Show" movie came out but I'm sure that's just a coincidence) -- we
travel all over the southwest to dogshows.

We just got an '04 Element EX last October and it really works great
with the dogs -- the crates, grooming tables, pop up tent, tables,
umbrellas, and all the other stuff that goes along with it.

The Element is VERY popular with the dogshow crowd -- primary reasons
being:
* Great "square" storage area with flat floor
* easy clean out with the rubberized "no carpeting" interior
* very good mileage
* Although all the crates and etc can be bulky, it really isnt heavy.
So the Element hauling capacity is fine.

Our dogs are small (http://www.havanese.org/ ) and we often haul four
dogs in one big crate, plus all this other junk. At the Scottsdale AZ
show, we saw a young woman with a big crate that pretty much filled the
back of her Element with two BIG Rottweilers. Looked cozy (ok, crowded)
but it worked!! And she was thrilled with her Element, and I am too!!