Housebreaking rescue dog

Question
Hello from a fellow AllExperts expert (in computers). Your experience with rescue dogs caught my eye. Here is our situation:

We just acquired a 13-month-old rescue Collie (female), who was part of a local "puppy mill" seizure in our area. She's our 3rd rescue dog, and in 3 weeks has fit in very well with our Swissie and toy Poodle. She seems perfectly fine with one exception: housebreaking.

The day we got her, we took her outside a LOT along with our other 2 so they could "show" her where in the yard they do their business. She sniffed and acted interested, but...nothing. That evening we were a little worried because she'd eaten and drank but produced nothing. Reluctantly, we put her in her crate for the night, fully expecting a mess to clean up in the morning, or if there was no mess a trip to the vet would be in order (as it would have been almost 24 hours since she'd had any output).

The next morning, her crate was dry. We took her out again and again, nothing. As I was inside putting my shoes on getting ready for a vet trip, she snuck off to a room which purely by chance had a big sheet of cardboard on the floor (and, luckily, the floor is currently sub-floor as we're about to re-carpet the area). She made a BIG pile and a BIG puddle on that cardboard.

That's when it dawned on us: She must have been PAPER trained (duh). So we put paper down in another area. Right about then we got hit with the flu and were essentially useless for a week. During that week, she continued to use that cardboard (we'd replace it as needed, and we put a plastic sheet under it) and ignored the newspaper. We did put a used section of that cardboard near the go-out-and-potty door, hoping she'd figure it out since it smelled like her "stuff". Our thinking was that once we were both feeling better, we'd move the cardboard outside, gradually getting her used to pottying out there. She never did use the second cardboard. We then had a wedding rehearsal dinner at our house (and so had to pick up the second cardboard) and a wedding, but after that we were feeling much better and ready to tackle this problem.

She was shut in our bedroom with us all night last night and -- after checking for any nocturnal mess she might have made -- we took her outside and staked her in the dog potty area, and put a piece of "her" cardboard in the grass. And waited. And waited. (Staying with her the whole time). Eventually, due to the requirements of life, we took her inside but blocked access to the area she'd been using inside, and made sure someone was with her at all times. As I type this, I am now sitting outside with her again. She has fresh water and has eaten, so I figure she HAS to go sometime, but it's been over 17 hours (or more).

Of course, if she ever does use the outside cardboard, we're ready with praise and treats, but I'm starting to get worried. I figured housebreaking would be almost a breeze, but...

It's possible that by the time you read this and answer it, she'll have figure it out, but just in case: Do you have any suggestions? Other than just "waiting her out" (which means keeping her outside -- usually with one of us -- pretty much full time) we're out of ideas. My wife wonders if she doesn't like doing her business with people nearby, and if we watched her from the window that might help, but I'm skeptical.

Hopefully I've given you enough details (without overwhelming you).

Thanks for your time.

-Dave

Answer
Well it might speed up things,if she is crated at all times,except for feeding,drinks walks ect. As most dogs want to keep a sleep area clean and that way you won't have to watch her. My one dog was like this for about three weeks. While it was a 'wait and see' approach once I was informed of this method it DID drastically speed up the process. Dogs that are not used to houses will often hold it for as long as three days at a stretch,but by crating her you will prevent accident and encourage her to go outside. Do that for about a week and a half,and then slowly let her out of the crate more. If she has an accident she can go back into the crate for about 4 days. And some dogs,as you said do not like to be watched so try hiding when she out as well. Also putting down cardboard outside will help-so it is good you are doing that as well