[lovemynyla]

Hi, my 41/2 mos. old Akita, who is scared to be outside on her own(we're working on that) will not go to the bathroom outside, she has peed a couple of times but other than that nothing! We can be outside for an hour or more and she won't go, but as soon as we come in she will go on a puppy pad. I wish I'd never used these things but with her fear of being outside I had to do something. So how can I get it through her head that she doesn't need to use a pad outside?

[cigwyllt]

Gradually move the pad towards the door. Alongside that take a used pad and weight it down outside so that she has something familiar when she is out there.

As for leaving her outside - do you really need to do that? You can take her outside and stay with her - I have friends who have to do that with their terriers because otherwise they will escape. If she is trained to go to the toilet at set times of the day it won't be too much of an imposition on you.

Personally I would work on the toileting issue and not worry about her relaxing outdoors without you.

[Lunareclipse]

My dogs won't stay outside without me. As long as they potty outside, I don't care if they can stay outside by themselves or not. I don't see any problem with them spending all of their time in the house.