I do agree that some stories are genuine and not just made up excuses. A couple of years ago my friends had to rehome their 12 year old dog because they had to move to argentina from europe. The dog was a black shaggy GSD. They had no choice because it was a one in a life time chance for the family and they would've taken the dog with them but were too worried that he wouldn't take the long journey well in his age. They also were worried about the hot weather out there. So the wife stayed behind for a couple of months and found a great new family for him.
Also some allergies can develop after several years of the person coming in contact with the allergen.. My mum who has worked as a pharmacist developed an allergy to some antibiotics 8 years after she started working in a pharmacy! She had to change her job because even being in a small room with boxes of the medication caused really bad reactions. She also developed allergy to our cat's urine after living with her for 2 years...
However, most pets that are taken to shelters are those that were bought as Christmas or birthday presents and pets for the children. Most of the time these "presents" get boring, take up too much time, are inconvenient during holiday seasons or simply grow into something that looks nothing like the dog they wanted. Puppies that were meant to be "purebred" but with no KC papers grow up into dogs that look nothing like yorkies, shi-tzu, labradors show aggression etc. The same happens when people pick a breed just because it looks so much fun. People are not prepared to work with their border collies, train their akitas and other dogs that look "cool" but require a lot of consistent work... And the worst of all in my opinion is when people go to get rid of their old dog because he's old. Because now he requires more care, more attention, more medical treatments, he's not as fun and not as clean. So when at home people take the decision to get rid of the dog they make up an excuse when they come to a dog shelter or a pound. Because saying that you can't deal with the dog because of his behaviour or your medical condition is always easier than accepting responsibility and admitting that you messed up...

The story of the family that went away on holiday and then wanted their dog back when they returned made me grin. Serves them right.
My first dog, Jess, we got from a rescue centre. She came straight up to me very calmly and jumped up and gave me kisses and licks, same with my old Mum. I took her for a walk for half an hour and she walked beautifully and I knew before I got back that she was the girl for us. I do think that she chose us as much as we chose her. I think she knew that she would get the best home and all the love she could ever want or need. She was so calm on the way home and within an hour of arriving after a little exploring she was having a nap on her bed. I don't think Jess had a very nice life before she was tied up and dumped by the side of a road.
However our other girl, Lexi, is a re-homed dog. Her owners had her since she was a pup and they did genuinely love her to bits. They all lived on a farm which she had the run of. She had been introduced to Sheep from a very young age and was totally confident and non aggressive with them. One day though a Lamb was killed by a dog on the farm next door. Lexi had allegedly been seen in the field that day with those sheep and though there was no blood on her, she got the blame. The farmer told her owners that either they got her put down or he would shoot her. They decided to put her on LL to see if she could find a nice safe home. I saw the post and got in touch with them and Jess and I met them the very next day to see how the girls got along. They were fine together and so I took her on for a weeks trial two days later, she's still here 3 months later.
They were really upset about losing her but knew it was to save her life. She has a good life here with us, lots of love and affection and she was genuinely in need of re-homing. We were just glad to be able to help out and get a smashing girl at the same time.

without wanting to defend that horrid family and how irresponcible they are

I have to say that allergies can pop up at any age. I have been rescuing and fostering cats for years even though I always had a mild allergy and was never really a cat person. my son adores cats though.
But with the amazing amount of stress and the nervous breakdowns I suffered my cat allergies just all of a sudden went out of hand and I had to rehome my sons cats. I literally got so bad that I couldnt leave my room. I could not be anywhere near anything the cat had touched.
It was horrible. And those cats were 2 and 5 years old.

So even if most cases are a lie, it does exist so I believe in judging carefully and rather focus on the animals that are in situations like that.

That's very true I ate fruit for 48 years and suddenly one summer day went into anaphylactic shock over a peach, haven't been able to eat anything with a stone, pip or seed since, later aspirin and ibuprofen and a couple of other meds joined the list. Just discover recently shell fish and smoked fish will set me off and stop me breathing too !

I've been seeing the same excuse used for a few different dogs recently... "growing too big, not enough space"
All of these were large breed mixes; boxer/lab, husky/lab, american bulldog/ridgeback, great dane/mastiff
What did they think they were getting???

One I saw recently that I really didnt like was "need to get rid as I have too many dogs"

They thought they were going to be getting the one puppy that never grew up obviously.

Or like many collectors suddenly realise they can't cope ? At least they are being honest they need help.

I always wonder when homes with 100 animals are raided why they didn't realise sooner they had too many