Afraid to toilet!!

Hello, I'm new here and I'm looking for advice. I have just rehomed by brother's 5mth old Jack Russell Terrier female, Elara (Elly for short). She is extremely sweet natured and very clever. By brother does not have a clue about training dogs and although I have some I'm unsure of this problem. I think that whenever she has had an accident in the house he has yelled and smacked her because she hides when she goes, refuses to go in front of me and will try and hold it for hours. I have been putting her outside every half hour or so. I ignore her when she has an accident inside apart from quietly moving her outside. I need some suggestions as to what else to do. I know she is capable of learning, it only took me a an hour to reach her to sit. She really has been taught nothing from my brother. He asked me to have her but I think he is under the impression that he can get her back when I've trained her but I know that she will revert once she is back with him because he just doesn't know how to communicate with dogs, he thinks she is being naughty deliberately!

Yeah, it sounds like she's been punished for going to the toilet inside. With this kind of thing you can use a method called "free shaping", which means you catch her when she's going to the toilet (hopefully outside) and reward her.
When you do eventually catch her peeing outside you must make sure she knows what she is being rewarded for. To do this you need a "bridge" word, or a clicker. To charge up the bridge, simply say/click and treat. This will also help her to build confidence and realise she isn't going to be punished or hurt again.
What kind of methods have you used for teaching the sit?

Thanks I'll try that. I used treats to get her to sit. While she was standing I moved the treat over her head slowly and said sit. She would sit in order to reach the treat as it moved over her head, then as she sat she was given the treat and lots of praise. She was showing off this morning, I told her to sit before greeting her as I don't much like being jumped all over at 7am. She sat first time, and then jumped over me when I told how good she was.

She sounds like a smart little cookie, and you're method is great. Keep up with the training, dogs just love it and it builds confidence like nothing else. She should be fine soon enough.