good news thanks to you, this morning I made her wait before taking her out, then I used a short leash and took out a long handle narrow metal spoon with a medium deep well. I then rubbed and pressed on her stomach around her bladder, she squatted a few times but as soon as I tried to put the spoon under her she would freeze but eventually she gave in and went. She has long hair with a big fluffy tail and is short to the ground so I really was not even sure the spoon was in the right place, so the whole time she was going I was silently praying, "please let there be some pee on the spoon"
Low and behold there was quite a bit of urine there which I then gingerly carried inside like it was liquid gold
I am going to let my vet know my technique because for small dogs I think this long spoon is a good idea, I was approaching her from the front with a tin pie plate which really was too wide to go between her legs, but I remembered that's what my mother in law did but then she had a westie which is much bigger. I liked the long spoon because I could go in from behind between her back legs and just slide it under and not really bother her. I am so glad I trained Lola to go on a leash instead of running loose, if she was used to peeing off leash like my sister's yorkie this would have been harder. LOL I know you are on the other side of the country but I hope you can feel me grinning ear to ear at my success and had you not mentioned the ladle I never would have though of it. Thanks you your advice and I will let you know what the vet finds. Donna