re-training a re-homed pup

Question
Hi, I just got a puppy from a couple who needed to re-home him. He's a 7-m.-o puggle (pug/beagle). The previous owners told us he was in the middle of pad-training. We've had him for over a week now and he is very well pad trained, the problem is he will not go outside. We take him out and he sniffs around the backyard, occasionally he will pee, but he never poops. Most of the time he will sniff around and want to go back in, once he does he goes to his pad as soon as we are not looking. I have been trying to read up on pad training because I have never done it before but I am getting frustrated with myself because I am a crate-trainer. I tried to do the pad training because that's how he was training but it's not working for me. Can I change to crate-training or will that only confuse him? How can I repair this situation?

Answer
Pad training is useful in NYC or other places where it is difficult to walk the dog without soiling the walkway. Collect some of the poop and pplace it outside where you want the dog to go potty. Then begin a regular potty training routine. It should smell its scent at the location and thus know that is where to go. It may take a few weeks, but I would certainly start the crate training and potty walks and get rid of the pads after the first week. As long as the pads are there the wrong habit will persist. The week is only to transisition and to avoid clean up if you miss a potty break. We atart with every 2 hrs plus first AM and last PM potty walks. A small reward (Beagles are chow hounds judging from our 12 so far) and the food reward has to be within 3 seconds of the action. We use small bits of hotdog. You can use any food the dog really likes.

Regards,
Henry Ruhwiedel
Westwind Kennels LLC
www.dogkennel.org