house training 2 yr old english bulldog

Question
HELP
My girlfriend and I recently adopted an English bulldog from a
vet office. We were told that she is roughly 2-3 yrs old. We have
had her for about a month and are at witts end. She is an
excellent dog. Very loving, not agressive at all. In fact, I believe
she was probably abused at some point because she is so timid.
Problem is, she will not take to house traing. She has a tatoo on
her inner thigh that has been tracked to a breeder in FL (we live
in MN) aparrantly she was adopted by people in MN then
abandoned in MN by people who moved out east. When
contacted by the vet they refused to make payment to have her
shipped out there. the only reason I believe this dog was left
(she is an awesome dog) is because she refuses to be house
trained. We have tried kenneling her in a blocked of kitchen. She
gets out of her kennel, knocks over the child gate, and urinates
and craps everywhere. We moved her into the bathroom in her
kennel. she gets out of her kennel and still poops and urinates
everywhere. I am afraid that when she was bred she was kept
outdoors in FL, and she will never be able to be house trained.
We don't want a dog that needs to be kenneled all the time, if
she cannot be housetrained we will be forced to get rid of her.
This is such a good dog we hate to give up on her, but she
refuses to learn. When we first got her she stayed in her kennel
overnight, then we tried to leave her with an open kennel in the
blocked off kitchen. She didn't urinate at first but then started
and it got worse and worse. Then she started knocking down the
child gate and messing up the whole house. Please help it would
be a shame loose such a loving dog, but we can no longer put
up with the messes if she is going to refuse to learn.

thank you
Scott  

Answer
You are in a very discouraging situation unfortunately. When you say recently adopted, I'm assuming you've only had the dog a short time.

There are several things to consider. 1/you have no idea of the background of the dog whether she was abused, etc. 2/you don't know if she was strictly a kennel dog when she was young and 3/you are expecting a lot of a dog who has gone through the trauma this dog has in her short life, changing homes, abandonment, etc.

My suggestion is this, if you're not willing to start over from square one, as if you had a puppy, and traing accordingly, then it would be best for you to find the dog a home with someone who knows the situation and has the ability to deal with it. This dog is going to take work and a lot of it, consistency, persistence, kindness, and patience. It's not an impossible task, but a daunting one.