A week ago yesterday i adopted an ex breeding bitch. She is 4 years old and was born and has lived her entire life on an isolated farm in Wales. The owner of the farm recently died and all the dogs are being rehomed. When i went to visit her i was taken to a smallish field with several sheds in and the dog was bought out of a small shed. She has clearly never been socialised with people or other dogs and has in fact never in her life been out of this particular field. All this aside she is currently doing fantastically well. The biggest issue at the moment is toileting. She did not pass urine for the first 36 hours she was here and she did not pass faeces for 4 days. She is eating fine and drinking fine. Currently she sleeps in my bedroom with me and 1 of my other dogs. She has a covered crate which is currently the only place she will toilet. She will go in there to pass urine and faeces which is ok as i can put inco pads in there and that is fine but she comes to work with me each day and will not toilet anywhere at work even if i pop her in a cage with an inco pad.  I have been taking her out every 2 hours during the day from 4 am to 10pm and spend 20 minutes wandering round the garden trying to get her to go but she shows no real interest. The occasional quick sniff but no more. She is very worried and follows me round in the garden but wont really leave my side to go toilet. So i suppose my question is how do you show them that its ok to toilet outside. I know she is going to be a long term project but i just hate to think of her being uncomfortable which she must be. She has been wearing an adaptil collar since monday and has dap spray on her bedding. We have tried putting sawdust in a potting tray as that is what she was kept on in the shed and popping that in the garden but she shows no interest in that. I have tried taking a ditry inco pad outside but again no joy. She is not used to other dogs so getting her to follow my others isn't working. Thank you in advance.

It isn't going to be easy as she has had 4 yrs of a very set life,you need to take it slowly and be patient. Is there some way of you taking her crate to work with you as it will have her scent on it already,if not then a pad she has wee'd on to put in a crate at work, when she does use it give her a high value treat,strong cheddar works here,they don't need much to get the taste.

She may have been dehydrated and under fed which will explain why she didn't toilet for so long, was she very thirsty or hungry on arrival?

Dealing with a new home and new surroundings at work is probably overwhelming for her to cope with, normally if it was a pup you would work on one place at a time.

I would continue the trips to the garden so she gets used to the sounds and smells and relaxes enough to toilet out there.don't set her up to soil elsewhere in the house by removing the crate and pad, the weather should improve soon so she can have free access to the garden with the door left open.

Good on you taking on this challenge

Could you take a pad that she has used out into the garden with you and see if she will go on the pad?

I understand she may be too shy to do this, but could you possibly introduce her to a clicker and treats?

The clicker can't do any harm... and at the very least, some 1-1 sessions on her own with you away from other dogs, with clicker and treats just for the fun of it, will help with bonding if nothing else; she will at least start to see you as a bringer of nice things and start to trust you a little bit more.

If she picks that up it may be possible to click and treat when ever you see her relieving herself anywhere outside her crate and build up on that.

If she is at all food orientated, stuff your pockets full of high value stuff at all times and be prepared to shower her with goodies. Even if she doesn't take to the clicker, a lure is also powerful especially if she can be brought to think you are a Goddess of Delightful Things who might drop tasty morsels at any odd time.

Maybe those with more experience than me can comment, but I feel a dog from that kind of situation needs to learn to trust first of all.

I dont think she was dehydrated or had been starving- she was lean but then i am struggling to get weight on her. She just held on- eventually she passed faeces after the vet had administered a micralax enema. I have been taking her used pads out into the garden but so far no joy. I also took her cage to work today but again no joy yet. Am working on trying to clicker train her but she is not really inot food. She is quite finicky and picky and doesn't really eat very much so am tyring to find an A1 treat but so far she will not eat pate, tuna, ham, cheese, beef, chicken, pasta, pork, corned beef and a variety of packet dog treats but not found anything that tickles her fancy yet. I think it will take some time and will just have to persevere. In herself she is making great strides. At least she will go in one place and hopefully the more confident she gets the more places she will perform. She has bonded very well with me and does a lot of wagging and licking when we are alone.

Pepperami works well for some as a high value treat, you can cut them up into varying sized pieces, eating some yourself may make her more keen to try.