We went through hell to get that dog, we were treated like liars and criminals by the staff. they had to come out to my house to verify that we had a fence around our property and that our "landlord" was ok with it since i lived at my mothers house at the time ( i was 18, just started working).
jumped through hoops to rescue a shelter pet instead of buying a dog from a breeder. Never again.
Had a similar experience here with one of my dogs. Shelter at first wouldn't let us get the dog we wanted because it wasn't a "good fit" as our first dog. The place even lie to us and said the dog was no longer there. They then proceeded to make us wait forever to adopt an older dog, which you would think they would want to give away to anyone with a home and a job...
Second time I adopted a dog was from a different place, they let me pay for the dog on the spot and pick her up after the 7 day waiting period was up (to make sure no one came to claim her).
We have two beagle mixes, they get my vote for "smaller" dogs. You just need to always have them on a leash or have a good fence lol.
FYI depending on your living arrangements having a dog that goes nuts for small animals can get annoying lol. I live in a condo with a shared yard so having the dog freak out over squirrels sometimes gets old.
Also, you can be breed-picky and still adopt the dog. There are plenty of online sites that let you search by breed, age, etc.