Golden retriever using litter box

As the title states, my 4M ESA has resulted to using the litter box.

We recently had moved from a house with a backyard to a trailer to now an apartment complex where he doesnt have a backyard or dog park where he can be off leash. Theres a grassy area I feel he would prefer using but I would like to train him to use the area behind our apartment.

We have been here for a few days with him only peeing outside and have been worried… until this morning. He hates using the restroom on leash and he must've had to go really bad last night… so we woke up to him having used the cat's litter box.

Not well- he has to spin when he uses the restroom for some reason (???) But an attempt was DEFINITELY made. I didnt realize he had half a braincell.

I think I can guess why he used the litter box logically? But I need advice for how to get him to use the restroom where I want him to. I got him to pee there so thats a bonus but I dont want to walk all the way across the complex for him to use the restroom multiple times a day. I will do so if absolutely necessary but I'd prefer not.

We also are trying to better leash-train him so will that affect trying to get him to go where we want? He's not the kind of dog who pulls or goes bolting to other dogs but hes a bit of a hefty dog and trys to pull us and we've been working on it and hes getting better.