You're going to have to scroll across to read this cos the piccy of the lovely bullies is stretching the page a bit.
The rule of any training (including house training) for your pup is to ignore any behaviour that you do not want repeated and to reward the behaviour that you DO want repeated.
So, following that theory - if your pup toilets in the wrong place you have to ignore it. Ignoring means not reacting in any way - no shouting, no speaking, no tutting, no glaring, no swearing, no waving of hands in exasperation - it means no reaction at all other than to clean the mess and carry on with what you were doing before. If your pup toilets inside the house it is YOUR FAULT for not watching closely enough. Your pup is a baby and he needs to be TAUGHT where it is appropriate to toilet.
You should take the pup outside immediately after he wakes up, after every drink and after every meal. He also needs to go outside after every bout of play. In effect, you need to take him outside to your designated spot in the garden about every half hour to an hour.
Choose a word that you can use as a 'trigger' word. I use 'hurry up' (well thats two words but never mind
) and I say 'hurry up' whilst standing with my arms crossed. The arms crossed and the trigger words are my signals to the pup that I'm waiting for him to do something.
At first, the pup will have no clue what they are expected to do or why you're standing there like a plank saying 'hurry up' but at some point, being a pup, the need to go will arise and they will wee or poo
At the very second they are about to finish, you crouch down and open your arms and smile madly and make loads of happy fussy noises and tell him he's a goooooooooood boyyyyyyy. (Fuck what the neighbours think of your strange behaviour - this works) :moon: You can also, at this exact point, shove a little food treat (a tiny bit of cheese, ham or something else really special) into his mouth. (You will need the treat waiting in your pocket so you can give it him immediately after he's 'been').
Repeat.
A lot.
At some point, the pup will cotton on that if he toilets inside the house, nothing at all happens - BUT - if he toilets outside, he gets massive fusses and a tasty treat.
Most puppies learn very very quickly to save their pees and poos for outside because they are just like human kids - they adore praise and treats.
It's really important that you understand that to a dog, a reward is not just a treat or praise. To a dog, a reward is also being looked at, being touched, being shouted at etc. So, going back to any indoor accidents - if you do ANYTHING other than ignore the error, you are in fact rewarding the dog, even if its a negative thing like being glared at or shouted at. You need to save your rewards (which of course will be positive ones) for whenever he goes in the right place.
You can use some newspaper spread around the house too. Not to train him to use it but just so that when he does have an accident (which he will because he's a baby and you can't watch him for every single second), if he happens to do it on the paper, you can take that soiled paper outside to the garden and put it in your designated toileting area and when you take him outside, pop him down on the paper and he will smell the scent of what he did before. This may well help him work out why you're standing there with your arms crossed
Sorry for screaching in my previous post but when I see someone being told to rub a dogs nose in it, it really gets my goat. I'm sure the person meant no harm but harm is exactly what would occur.
Hopefully some of the other people involved in animals/welfare/vet nurses will post here to tell you that what I've said is correct (in case you just think I'm some mad woman!).
If it's any consolation, I'm doing this exact training programme with my own puppy and she's learning very quickly.
Best of luck!