I’m sorry but it’s sad you’re discouraging people from adopting, I think your experience is a very small percentage. I adopted an adult dog from an out of state kill shelter without meeting it. My Aussie/bc mix was perfect, friendly and playful with every dog she met and loving with people. She could go up to the toughest looking person and they’d melt. She got me through a very difficult time, as I became sober 12yo ago. I would never have the life and family I have today without her.

“Only dog” is code for aggressive. There are a lot of codes shelters use like this where you have to read between the lines. If it had said “wildly aggressive to dogs and probably children, loves adults” no one would give it a second look. It’s not fair to people who want a pet but aren’t versed in rescue-lingo.

At best these rescues are “volunteers” with little to no professional training or knowledge about dogs. So they can actually create or encourage problem behaviors through their own ignorance. Currently living through it with a puppy I recently adopted. Adopt don’t shop is manipulative and toxic at best.

Former shelter worker here. It's quite possible the shelter didn't know the extent of the dog's aggressive tendencies. It's also possible they did. Dogs can behave very differently in different environments. There are no enforced standards for behavioral assessments in shelters. It really just depends on the shelter and how well staffed and how well funded it is. I'm sorry you had that experience. There are plenty of dogs in shelters that do great with other animals. My boy is an example.