shelter dogs and mixed breeds are often kinder surprise eggs. people should know that when they come to a shelter.
the people in the shelter have seen many dogs and some can guess breeds really well, but as long as a dog isn't registered in the respective breeding club, you can be pretty sure that they're mixed breeds.
With puppies it is especially difficult.
for people that don't want this, there's still breeders.
buying from a registered, responsible breeder and supporting healthy and responsible breeding and breed-specific research is a form of animal welfare as well.
And then there are of course breed specific rescues where you can be relatively sure that the respecitive breed is at least part of the dogs genetic background.
A big part of the dogs in our shelter have either Schäfi or Bullybreed in them, you can realitvely simply see these breeds.
both are not the easist to adopt out,with Schäfis it is because there are so many of them and many of them are slightly "special needs"...they need someone that it able to deal with this kind of working dog, they've got to be willing to work/train with them and they shouldn't leave the dog alone too long during the day. (single, full-time worker living in an apartment or having an unfenced yard have it difficult to get a dog in the shelters.)
A lot of Schäfis also react really bad on being in a shelter in compared to other breed(mixes) and so they don't look/act as appealing as some smaller, more fluffy dogs.
A lot of Schäfis bond so strongly with their handler/owner that they feel really unhappy when they don't have a human of their own and unhappy dogs can show some weird behaviour.
with Pitties, additional to the stereotypes, it is that in many federal states Pitties are either not allowed or the dog tax is higher than for "non SoKas" (SoKa: sogenannte Kampfhunde/so-called fighting dogs).
Some of Pittie-mixes also had already a string of different owners and especially need someone being able to meet their needs and is able to invest the time.
In some shelters it takes years to adopt these dogs out and the older a dog becomes the more difficult it is to adopt them out.
I can understand why some shelters may feel it needed to call their pittie-mixes Boxer-mixes to avoid the stigma even though i don't like it because just because someone is fitting and willing to own a Boxer doesn't mean they're the right home for a Pittie.
if there are other breeds, they often come when people notice they don't stay puppies (i.e. 9 month to 3 year old adolecents) or because they're breeds that need a bit more of work (dogs with protection or prey drive for example or dogs that need more training/exercise/metal stimulation than the usually 0815-dog), or because they're sick/handicapped or pregnant.
and then there are of course the dog that get given up because the owners are stupid, dead, sick, pregnant or broke up with their partner.