I just thought I'd share something that is working for our new adopted dog who would not "go" if we were even remotely nearby.
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Our new dog is a 1-year-old rescue. She's a golden ret/cocker span mix. We've had her for 3 weeks. She has trust issues at this point. She was abused by a man, so she's better with me than with my hubby. She's got the potential to be a great family dog. We've had some housetraining issues, but things are looking up. Up until 5 days ago, she would not "go" if we were anywhere nearby, which makes housetraining with a leash very difficult. I finally put her on a really long tie-out (we don't have a fence) and just started sitting out on the deck whenever I let her out. It worked. Now she will go with us around. I'd say we're down to around 20 ft away, so it's getting better. Next I plan to work with a long lead and try to get her to go in a designated area out there. :-) We're still establishing our relationship in a lot of ways. I just came across this site today and have started working on "goalie" with her. I also listened to your podcast on shy dogs since that is definitely her right now. Thank you for putting this info out there in an easy to handle format. It's awesome.