Dog afraid to go to the bathroom outside

Question
Hello, I was wondering if you could help me with my dog.

My dog Sophia, a Boston Terrier, 2 years old, was used to going to the balcony of my apartment through a doggie door everytime she needed to go to the bathroom. I have one of those portable dog grass potty outside on the balcony, where she would climb on and do her business.

A few weeks ago, it seems that she was stung by a wasp near her potty grass outside in the balcony and ever since, she started releasing herself in the house.

No matter what I do, she is terrified of the balcony and continues to go to the bathroom in the house, although I still try to take her outside as well as on park visits daily and her walks.

Last time I had her on the balcony, she started shaking and drooling, I believe in fear, so I took her in.

How can I re-train her to go to the bathroom outside on the balcony again? I really don't know how to make her comfortable with that place again and I would really appreciate any advice you could give me.

Thanks,
Alice

Answer
Hi Alice.  I think I would start by bringing the grass pad inside the house, right next to the patio door.  Let's get her back on track using the grass while you work on desensitizing her to the balcony again.  I'm afraid that the longer the continues to relieve herself in the house, the harder it will be to retrain her to go outside.

The balcony has to become a "safe" place for her again.  Set up this scenario to work on when she's hungry:

Take a chair and go sit on the balcony, take some really high value bits of food (cheese, hot dogs, chicken). Take a magazine to read and leave the door open.  No pressure on Sophia at all, but if she looks like she'd like to come and join you, toss her one of the treat tidbits.  Try and toss it to a place where she has to take a couple of steps outside to get it.  She might grab it and retreat back to the house, but that's OK.  Repeat until she's more comfortable coming out on her own.  Just hang out with her on the balcony, tossing her tidbits of food.  

Work on this at Sophia's pace.  Don't try and rush it.  This may take a few days or a few weeks.  Be patient and let her tell you when she's ready to move on.  When she's walking out on her own looking for a treat, you know you've made great progress.

Once you get to that point, you can put the potty grass back out - just outside the door to begin with.  Go out with her each time and reward her for eliminating outside.

Please let me know if you have any questions about the process.  I'd love to hear how it goes, so feel free to give me an update.  Good luck!