I'm not a pap person, but I can give you advice on my experiences with trying to get into a breed...
What I did was send and email to the local breed club and ask if I could come to a meeting or speciality and meet some of the members and see if I really liked the atmosphere and to see if I got along with MOST people that I met.
You won't like everyone, that's for sure, and you won't agree with everyone's breeding practices. BUT, there should be enough people that you are comfortable with to guide you along in this process.
Then, you would want someone to mentor you through the process, so you would chose x people that you are comfortable with, and just start asking questions and getting to know them better.
Plus, these people will be your peer group and your competition, so it's really important to know them well.
Then, start looking for your show puppy. Through the contacts you've made, you could be able to get the puppy on co-ownership and maybe not have to spend $2,000 on a puppy. That didn't happen for me the first time around, but the more people you know the better you'll do.
At that point, you may want to start taking handling classes from a professional handler. They may seem expensive, but if you ever get to the point that you want to special your dog, you'll see about $20,000 in savings if you just handle yourself.
Maybe one of your mentors could teach you for free or a reduced cost. Again, this is why networking is sooooo important.
This is something that I've really lucked into this time- I met the right person at the right time with the right breed who is willing to mentor. My "mentor" has about 5 mentors herself, LOL!
And through out all of this, like Lauralin said, you're going to want to be researching breed issues and problems and then asking your mentors what their stances are. You'll get lots of different perspectives, but you'll learn alot and be able to form your own opinions on things that affect the breed.
That's just my opinion and that's how I did things, but that's not the only way. There are as many ways to get into a breed as there are people in the breed. Good luck!!!!