Dog won't go in yard

[my00forest]

hi there,
my name is shane and i am a new member here, i've been trolling around on this board a little bit and it seems like a really good resource with very knowledgable people for me to pick their brains .
well on to the problem. my dog Mattie is a Beagle and Jack Russell mix and is about 4yrs old and she was a stray that was found by a friend of mine and after putting up found dog posters, checking local vets and humane societies I ended up adopting her. I've had her for about 2-3 months now and have had a lot of fun with her. what i'm not having fun with is having her go to the bathroom in my yard, we live on about an acre of land and the back yard is about .5 acres backing up to woods. i have her trained to stay in the yard and she is very good off leash and knows the boundaries of the yard and knows where to stay and she listens well. i started out having to take her on walks in order to get her to go to the bathroom at all, and it turned into a 3-4 times a day and walking about 3/4 - a full mile each time we walked. this was the only way that she would go to the bathroom. Since the weather is getting colder i want to train her to go in the back yard like my other dog does (other dog stays on 20ft teather to the porch). i don't really care where Mattie goes in the yard so long as she goes.

So two days ago i started just walking Mattie in the back yard, at first on leash and then eventually letting her roam under my watchful eye and leading, and we would walk for about 30 minutes at a time and i walked her about 4-5 times in the back yard trying to get her to start going to the bathroom. Not once did she go to the bathroom for me the entire day, no pee, no poop. I finally gave in at the end of the day around 11pm and walked her in the neighborhood to get her to go so that she did not have to hold it any longer. I tried again the next day and the same thing happened.

So i guess my question is why is she not going to the bathroom in my yard. Is there anyway that i can que her to go where i want. Not that i don't mind walking her but since the weather is getting colder i don't want her to be outside as long as she is now.
anyway, thanks for any and all help and i apologize for the long read. i am glad that i found this forum and hope that you folks can help me or at least point me in the right direction.
thanks,
Shane and Mattie

 

[my00forest]

oh and Mattie still goes #1 in the house from time to time but one problem at a time i guess

 

[Roo92]

I know this problem all to well, you mentioned that you have 2 dogs?? My beagle mix, Ronny doesn't like going to the bathroom in the yard sometimes when I haven't picked up the poop from him and my other dog. He will either go in the house or sit by the front door wanting to be walked instead. However if I pick up the poop more often than he's fine with going to the bathroom in the yard. I think it has something to do with marking territory and having more than one dog but I'm not really sure.

 

[my00forest]

that sounds like it may be the problem, my one dog, Marlee, is the one who is leashed up in the back yard and goes in about a 20 ft radius of the house, but sometimes she is allowed to walk around the yard and sometimes goes #2 further from the house. Mattie, the beagle mix and pain, has gone twice in the back yard and both times were about 50 ft from the house at the extent of our yard and she has also gone once on her own in the front yard. tomorrow i am going to clean the yard up extra good and see if that helps.
thank you very much for the tip

 

[MomOf7]

Some dogs just wont potty in thier own yard. Especially if they have been allowed to run loose.
Try taking him for a walk then bringing back his potty and putting it in the yard.

 

[Gillian]

I have a 17 month old girl who will not go anywhere but on her own turf. Maybe this is her problem. She might not regard your place as her territory yet. She might need an area that is solely hers to feel comfortable. Generally they want to feel very secure to go potty and I find the females are more likely to suffer from this problem than the males. A little patience and a lot of confidence building should correct this. It's early days yet.

Gillian