House Accidents

Question
We aquired a one year old female,standard poodle two months ago from a breeder.  We also have a 3 year old Samoyed. The two have beocme best friends. The problem is; Our poodle will not go to the bathroom while on a leash which is fine when we are at home. We travel on vacation occassionally and really like to take the dogs. Our Sam has never had an accident in the house and barks when he wants out. Our poodle is not verbal about going outside. When we are away from home and not staying in a fenced yard we put them on long leads in the yard and walk them daily. She will not go to the bathroom, (will hold it for 24-48 hours) then in the middle of the night she urinates and deficates in the house... FYI, the previous owners crated her while at work and there was an accident with the crate collapsing on her, currently using a crate is not an option. Any suggestions?  We are very puzzled.
Thank you.

Answer
Hello Patti,
I have a couple of suggestions that may work for you with your Poodle.  
Have you tried using a retractable leash, which gives your dog several feet of leash, with her.  Maybe she just doesn't feel comfortable "going" in front of you.  

Take some of her urine (soak some up with a paper towel) and bring it along in a zip lock bag.  Put the paper towels down and see if she will go on them when you take her to the potty area.  

Take up water and food, 2 hours before going to bed and make sure that you take the dogs outside an hour or so before bedtime.  If your Poodle won't go, bring her back inside then take her back out in 10 minutes.  Continue until she will go for you, then praise her.  

Once you get her to go on her own when you travel, hang a jingle bell on your door and have her bump it with her nose before she goes out.  Praise her and give her a treat, then take her out.  Get her to where she will alert at home, then see if she will alert you when you are traveling.  

If you need to leave her somewhere at night to contain her, try putting her in the bathroom with a babygate up.  You can put potty pads on the floor for her if she does make a mistake.  You can put a bell on the bathroom door for her to alert you, once you teach her to ring it to go potty.  

I hope this helps you some.  If you have other questions, please feel free to ask.

Thanks for using AllExperts.com,
Kim