Man there are SO many things I want to say after reading through all of this!
First off, I have been volunteering at dog rescues for about 12 years and I have to say the number of times I'm spending time with a dog and say "how in the heck did YOU end up in a shelter?" is unreal. I would honestly say about half of the dogs that come through are already perfect family dogs with no behavior issues and maybe only need some basic obedience work (some that have been in homes before don't even need that!). And another solid chunk only have mild behavior issues that can easily be worked out with a somewhat dog savvy owner or dedication to working with a trainer. Every dog I have owned has been from a shelter and, other than maybe for a few of my "dream breeds," I would never really consider going to a breeder. There are way too many perfect dogs out there sitting in a shelter that deserve a home and are getting passed up because the owner thinks they want to raise a puppy so they can train it their way and that every shelter dog is bound to have some kind of issue. Which couldn't be farther from the truth!
Second, I may have an unpopular opinion on this thread regarding the whole euthanizing animals with behavior issues topic. But in my experience a lot of these dogs make excellent pets if you put the time into it. I really feel like a lot of shelters don't give some of these dogs enough of a chance to come around or don't really work on rehabilitating them or transfer them somewhere that will. On one hand, I get that a lot of shelters would rather focus their time/energy/space/funds on those that are easier to adopt out and are less risky, however on the other, it's hard for me to say that the dog with behavior issues deserves a chance at a home any less than the other dogs just because he took a little more time to come around. Especially if the reason he is acting that way is because of the abuse/neglect he has suffered and doesn't know what love from a human even feels like. I would probably take some time to come around and start trusting people too if that's all I've ever known. The dog my family has now spent his first 2 years of life chained in a back yard with little training and no socialization. Our family friends adopted him and he was a sweet dog for the most part, but they eventually found out he had severe resource guarding/territory issues. He was both food aggressive and overly protective of the mom and ended up biting all three of the kids pretty bad because they got too close to the mom when he was near her. Now, had we not intercepted and he been dumped in a shelter, he would have been labelled aggressive and at some shelters, put down. It has now been almost exactly 9 years since we've had him and he is so incredibly gentle that my 3 year old cousin could put his hand in his food bowl while he's eating and he would back away. All it took was a small amount of work on our part and he has been the best and and most loyal of any dog we've ever had. The last thing I have to say about this topic is, as someone mentioned earlier, that some dogs may act fine in a shelter and then been adopted out only to have new issues arise. While this does happen, I feel like I more commonly see the reverse. I have seen so many dogs that have been great pets come into the shelter system and slowly develop problems or weird behaviors due to the stress of being confined to a cage surrounded by 40 other barking, stressed out dogs all day, everyday. But then as soon as you take them away from that environment and give them some time to decompress, they become that same, sweet dog again. While I get that there are some dogs that are so severely aggressive/fearful towards people and are too far gone to save, I feel like too many are judged and given up on way too quickly.
Finally, I too am so frustrated with the application process at some shelters. I think the best thing I've heard yet was what
@vetmedhead said about seeing if all of your employees/volunteers would even be able to pass! I want to adopt a dog from the shelter I volunteer at now but I am afraid to even ask the shelter owner because I live outside of the range they are willing to drive for a home check and I don't think I'll be able to get my entire family to come meet the dog first (which none of them are going to be caretakers of the dog and I'm only living with them temporarily anyways). So she would have to trust that my house is safe and I am a good enough dog handler to manage introducing the dog to my family on my own. Which, after volunteering for as long as I have you would think she would, but she's so strict that I really don't know. I've watched her pass up on giving some of our dogs a great home for the stupidest (not sure if that's a word) reasons, for fear of the dog being returned. The other thing that irks me is the number of dogs I've been interested in at other shelters, but can't adopt because I don't have a fenced in yard. I'm sorry, but you're going to pass up on an adopter who has been working in rescue for 12 years, owned several dogs, is good at training them, would never give up on a dog with some issues, wants to be a FREAKIN' VET and dedicate her entire life to saving animals, because she doesn't have a FENCE. I'm sorry, what?