You have to put yourself in their position. They are focused on the good of the dog. Let's say 2 applications come in, yours and anone else's. Let's assume they haven't run through so many dogs. The other application gets the dog--everytime. Not a tough choice.

Try someplace close to home, visit the shelter, call the folks and talk to them, like you said, they can't know everything from an application (particularly if it isn't properly completed and checked/proofed for errors). No offense intended, but a poorly completed application makes a bad impression.

Good luck. Never heard a yellow lab called a white lab before.