housetraing a rescued 2 y.o. Golden

Question
Recently adopted, she continually deficates in the house when we are not there (I know we tried the crate, she poops in it and breaks out)  Great in every other way except the housetraining.  Have tried many ideas eg. feed on a schedule, take outside on a schedule, she WON'T poop for me outside.  Any ideas?

Answer
Thank you for adopting her.  The 10 million dogs slaughtered every year for lack of homes weighs heavily on me.  I encourage adoption every chance I get, but unfortunately, good people like you get stuck with some of the dog's past baggage.  

Tomorrow morning put on her leash, put a plastic bag in your pocket and take her for a walk.  If she isn't trained to heel properly, work on it.  Part of correcting the bowel movements may include giving her proper leadership.  That starts with walking on lead.  Do you have a good 6' leather leash and a sturdy slip collar, the metal chain ones with the rings on each  end?  You want the shortest one that will go on and off easily. If you walk  with the dog on the left, pull the chain through one loop forming a "P".
Facing it, slip it over its head. The free end should come over the neck to the leash, and the other end should drop slack when there is no pull on the leash.  

Easier dogs will give up their pulling with a few good snaps of the leash
combined with a stern "Bad dog!".  You can work up to forceful corrections
with the leash doubled up in both hands and your whole body behind it.   But
you don't want to use any more force than you need.  One gentle technique I
like is to just stop when he pulls.  He wants to go.  If you move forward when
the leash is slack, and stop when he pulls, he should quickly figure out the
only way to get to go, is not to pull.  This is about teaching him not to
pull, not getting somewhere.  The man that taught it to me said "If in a half
hour you haven't made it out to the front walk, fine, you have taught him a
lesson.  A very effective newer technique is to pull the dog backwards rather than just stop.  

Choose your pace and the route.  Keep her moving, with no more than a few, wide spread chances to stop and sniff.  She can only walk and hold it so long.  Eventually she will become quite restless.  Give her a chance at the grass.  She may even be forced to stop on the side walk and go.  When she does, praise her, rant and rave about what a great dog she is.  She should catch on before too long.

It is unacceptable to leave her stools on the sidewalk or somebody's yard.  Illegal in places too.  Pull out the plastic bag, pull it over your hand, and pick up the stools.  Turn the bag inside out and tie a knot in the top.  You may have to carry your treasure home.  Some people use bread wrappers.  I use the ones my newspaper comes in.  

Work on other basic obedience too.  The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts.  Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog.  Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones.  You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/  For more on being top dog, see http://www.dogbreedinfo.com./topdogrules.htm  Lower ranking members of the pack need to withdraw from the den to eliminate.