I volunteered at a county humane society and they have similar rules. The reasoning behind them is to prevent a person who can meet the adoption qualifications from obtaining animals then giving or selling them to others for purposes like dogfighting, torture, medical testing, breeding, and so on. It's also to make sure that if the dog doesn't work out it doesn't end up being put down in a shelter somewhere. Those outcomes defeat the purpose of rescuing the dog to begin with.

Ellen, like many Hollywood types, needs some perspective. She should try dealing with some of the soul-crushing problems real people have to deal with, like single moms making ends meet or families whose children who are addicted to drugs or commit suicide, or a spouse killed in a car accident. Those people have something to cry about.