What a problem! Doesn’t she go outside at all for walks during wintertime then?

If it were me, I would get some dirt and other stuff from outside and pour over the puppy pad, so that it reminds her of the outside. The thing is that whatever the puppy mostly goes potty on at the age of 7,5 weeks (grass, dirt, asphalt) is what it will prefer when it grows up. So whatever is her favourite thing, you must use on top of the puppy pad in the beginning.

Place her there several times a day and praise her and give her treats when she goes. In time, you won’t need the dirt on top of the puppy pad, but can reduce it slightly so that she gets used to the puppy pad itself.

Perhaps also you could bring out a puppy pad with you for walks now – so that when she gets ready to do her business, you quickly place the puppy pad under her for her to get used to it.

Good luck though! Our dog refused to use our garden as a toilet, but had to go faaar away from the house, before he could do it, so I don’t think I could ever teach him to go inside

I have no experience in house training a dog….yet here I am putting in my 2 bits. You mentioned the issue in some other threads I just read so I was thinking about it already. Would having a big ol’ tray of dirt, sand (even snow?) help? It would be smelly yes but that’s better then her turning into an icicle. I don’t know their habits or whether that would be useless to a dog, i’ve never had indoor dogs. Would you have to give her something already partly soiled?

Sorry, i’m no help. I’ll be curious as to what the tips are to get them to go in the one place.
 

Edit: Oh I see Karla posted same time. So dirt is an idea after all, good to know.

My grandma has a tiny little Chi that can’t go outside when it gets cold or he shivers so bad he falls over trying to pee lol.

So she made an indoor potty area out of a small kiddie pool with planted grass in it then put his ‘scent’ on it (gross but worked). He now will gladly go on the area with no problem at all. And when it gets smelly she just replaces it.

What about something like this?
http://www.amazon.com/PetZoom-Pet-Park-Indoor-Potty/dp/B002ZHRTAK

From the reviews it seems like it works great for small dogs, and as long as you are cleaning it daily you won’t have mess/smell issues. So you don’t have to keep on buying piddle pads and throwing money away!

Try those scented things that you can put in your yard-their made so your dog chooses a spot in the yard that you want him to, rather then where he’d like to…sometimes they are bricks or fire hydrants. They are scented so that they want to eliminate there.
http://www.ehow.com/facts_4794018_puppy-house-training-supplies.html
Try that with some pads.

It’s gross but we’ve all done it for training buns-you could always pick up her poo and pee and put it on the pads-and do like you would in the yard-only take her to that spot to ‘go’ (never outside) and praise her and give her treats for going there.

I must say-you have the opposite problem most people have LOL But yes-with those temps, it’s probably best for her to ‘go’ inside

Well this is the same idea as Lintini!  lol 

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp

Also,  I guess some puppy pads are scented to attract the puppy to it.  Maybe the scented ones would work for her too? 

I don’t know how to do it, but it is possible to train them to go into a litter box and there is specific dog litter. 

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp

If she goes in some snow, you could scoop it up, take it in, put it on the pad with dirt already on it (or just the puppy pad by itself) and let the snow melt onto the pad. It will have her scent and soak the pad. Maybe even put it into a spritzer bottle and then lightly spray it on each fresh pad so it’s already marked. Once she gets experience of the really cold weather, she might not object at all. And definitely reward her with treats when she goes in her indoor spot. You could try clicker training her to do it. Probably would train her to it faster.

Talk to your vet about it- your vet will have an idea of what her other clients must have to do.  I am in Michigan but cannot even imagine the difference to Alaska.

The longer a dog holds their urine the more likely they are to get bladder infections- so the more often you can take them out (reasonably) is better.  Our dogs go out 3 times a day or more if they ask.  But I don’t have extreme weather or a small dog to deal with.  Michigan/Australian Shepherds.

Good thinking Katnip.

Maybe try contact some local dog owner groups or non breed specific forums also. They might have a larger membership then your Yorkie one and have more people frequenting the forums to answer questions.

Maybe put a puppy pad in the bathroom, it already smells like pee to the dogs.

Tricky! The anti-housetraining! It is a good idea with the small, short-legged dogs. I really like RP’s idea with the snow. I would get a huge litterpan, line it with dirt that she has already peed on and then put fresh snow on top. Or, of course you can shell out the cash to buy those expensive puppy pads…
You can also comand-train her. Whenever she pees outside say a specific word, and then use that command to encourage her to get over the inhibition to potty indoors. Use different commands for poo and pee. Say the word only in that moment where she is actually eliminating.

jersey’s suggestion got me curious and I did a quick google search, and there are several sites for owners of your breed of dog. They have forums with posts about the cold, so you could peruse some of them, too. I think you need to talk to other Alaskans, though, since the more local the advice (probably) the better.