Pee Pad Traiining

Question
Hi,

I have a 13 month old female yorkie that is a rehome, we have had her for just
about a month. She is potty trained outside, the problem is I live in the
northeast so we have cold winters, she is a southern dog and hasn't been out in
the cold. We are finding out that now that the grass is cold and damp she won't go,
she just stands on the grass and doesn't move. We want to pee pad train her like
our 6 month old male yorkie is. she is exposed to his washable pee pad but just
sniffs and walks away, I try saying to her "go potty" just as I do for her
outside. but she doesn't seem to be getting the concept. I have tried using the
washable pee pad and spraying it with the scented training spray and still
nothing. Am I using the wrong pee pads, wrong methods? We have tried leaving her
in the xpen with her bed and washable pee pads on the floor too. And she still
won't go. I don't have a garage or any type of outbuilding to be able to take
her in to relieve herslf in either. Oh, and she can hold it FOREVER,Please help
me and her, we really need to be able to do this! Thank you in advance."


Answer
Training a housebroken dog to use a potty pad is like teaching a potty trained person that he is to pee on the rug instead of on the toilet. If it were you, what would you think?

My suggestion is to get her used to the cold wet grass and eventually the snow through games and playtime or to have her go in the driveway. It's easier to clean poo off pavement anyway.