Chinese crested female

Question
QUESTION: I recently adopted a 1 year chinese crested female.  She is a wonderful pet and does great with my other 2 dogs.  Problem is that she was house trained on on puddle pads and refuses to walk on the grass to potty outside.  She will walk a mile and show no interest in going to the bathroom until she walks into the house and sees a puddle pad.  I have tried putting the puddle pads outdoors on the porch or sidewalk and that does not work either.  What am I doing wrong?  HELP!!

ANSWER: What do you mean if you put the pads outdoors it does not work. Do you mean she won't go on them when they are there or do you mean she'll go on them when they're there but you can't get her to take the next step?


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: She will not use them outdoors......

Answer
It sounds like she's not used to being outside at all. So you're going to have to get her used to the outside before you expect her to potty in it. I've seen lots of puppy mill rescues who freak out at the sight of grass and I've seen dogs who spent their whole life outside who freak out the same way inside a house. You can't do a thing with them until they get used to the new environment.

I suggest take her outside and sit on the grass with her in your lap. Pet her and play with her and set her in the grass (she'll probably stand there shaking and look at you like a traitor) but continue petting her and coaxing her with treats for a few minutes, then pick her up and take her inside again. If she enjoys playing with the other dogs, enlist their aid by encouraging the dogs to play together outside whenever possible. Just make sure she gets lots of positive outside playtime- but somewhat away from the place you want her to potty because she might be scandalized by the idea of going potty where she plays. Once she is happy to spend some time outside, which shouldn't take more than a week or so if she gets positive outside time several times a day, move the potty pads outdoors and start your housebreaking program from scratch as if she's never been housebroken before. Do not give her the opportunity to go indoors. There is an article about housebreaking I wrote here: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-7644-Detroit-Pet-Training-Examiner~y2009m7d13

Once she's used the pads outside a few times and gotten treats for it, get rid of the pads and keep taking her to the exact same spot where they were.