Raindogs and dogs in the rain

 Though generally it never rains in California, it appears we have quite a winter storm on our hands. I've been taking Angel out for her normal visits to her personal restroom aka the front lawn, and let me tell you, this dog refuses to go! Have you had this problem?

I've tried everything - a doggie raincoat (which, by the way, was purchased at Petco and looks absolutely adorable, but is totally ineffective for keeping most of my dog dry since it only covers half of her), and even rainboots. I thought the problem was the wet paws thing, but she seems to dislike the rainboots even more than she finds her wet paws annoying. The rainboots make her walk funny and she's much more fixated with that than anything else.

When I take her out in the rain, she just stares up at the sky, or sniffs the grass intently, but seems to refuse to do her business. She's crate trained so she's usually pretty quick about taking care of business but the rain throws her whole focus completely off. Even the sound of passing cars confuses her and falling leaves drive her absolutely crazy.

So, my question for today: Do you have any great solutions to the problem of getting your dog to go out in the rain? Because, honestly, I'm going to be a frozen popsicle standing outside pacing back and forth, and she's just adamantly refusing to go outside. I don't want her to get in the habit of going inside, obviously, and unfortunately I never trained her to use my cat's catbox.

Any helpful suggestions would be quite appreciated!!

Raindogs, by the way, is an excellent album by Tom Waits which has very little to do with this article, but if you haven't listened to it, I strongly recommend it.