Help with outdoor training after using wee-wee pads

[GinaA.NY]

Does anyone have advice on how I can successfully get my two 6-month shelties sisters to "potty outside" after using wee-wee pads for 14 weeks. We are out of the house for work during the day so the pads seemed appropriate at the time but some of the information on the internet has led me to believe that they will never be outdoor trained. They do sleep in a crate and have not soiled it. I had a few days off from work and tried to teach them the outdoor routine. I take the girls out first thing in the A.M., after eating, exercising, before bedtime. I do tell them to go "Potty Outside" and reward whichever dog eliminated with a special "Potty treat". However; I am also seeing the return to where the pads were and eliminating on that site and other random places as well.
Has anyone successfully trained a dog after using wee-wee pads? I wished I never started with them but that's hindsight now. Advice greatly appreciated.

 

[BarbV]

You are doing all the right things: crating, rewarding, etcv.

Now you just need to move the pee pads outside and out of the house and then eliminate them altogether

 

[Tagg]

Keep doing what you are doing, make sure you are cleaning the previous area first with soap and water and then with a vinegar/water solution so that the smells are neutralized.
I had a westie that was paper trained for years and would hold it in her crate overnight and then for hours outside because she believed she had to go on paper. She refused to use paper outside either. Once she got the idea that it made me ecstatic when she went outside she never looked back.
My clients have outdoor trained several paper trained dogs - same thing.
You have to persevere.