If you learn better visually seeing things versus reading, check out my squidoo lens about dog obedience training video's. But try and see if this helps you out first.
Housebreaking is often made much more difficult than it should be. It is one of the more frustrating behaviors that puppies have, and gets more dogs put into new homes or turned into shelters than just about any other behavior. So lets simplify this for everyone.
1. A dog relieving themselves feels good to them no matter where they do it. Inside or outside, they feel better from the internal reward of relief! This means that the more times that your dog is able to urinate or defecate in your house, the more they are going to want to do so. So the bottom line is, until your dog is housebroken, you ABSOLUTELY cannot leave them unsupervised. Doing so will only set you and your puppy up for disaster.
2. If you cannot supervise your dog, then put them in a small area of confinement. Such as a kennel, or small room (like a laundry room or a hallway baby-gated off), or on a very short leash. The idea here is not only does it prevent the dog from being rewarded for eliminating in your home, but it also uses the dogs denning instinct to motivate it not to go in that small area. Dogs don't like going to the bathroom where they hang out. If your dog is still have problems while confined, reduce the size of the confinement area and remove all absorbent materials such as blankets, towels, or large stuffed animals(if it is a kennel you can buy or make a divider to cut down on its overall space). If for some reason the dog does relieve themselves in that confinement area, make sure they stay in there for at least 15 minutes. This may sound cruel, but it helps the dog understand that going inside, especially their crate is bad, and will motivate them to hold it longer next time. This helps to develop muscle control. If you cannot supervise your dog for ANY length of time, then you need to confine them. All uncaught 'accidents' in the house teach your dog that your house is the proper place to go.
3. Only punish 'accidents' that you actually see happening. If you don't SEE it happen, your punishments are going to be ineffective. Dogs learn in the moment. If we cannot isolate the moment that is undesired, they will never be able to grasp the concept of what we are upset with. If you see them eliminating in the house, say 'No!' firmly and loudly several times in a row. Do this as they are still squatting. Quickly walk over to them and grab them by the scruff of the neck (the extra skin on the back of their neck where the mother dog would pick a puppy up by) and pull up a few inches (you do not need to pick the dog up off the ground) and quickly shake your hand to the right or the left while still holding the puppies scruff. This is almost exactly how 'Mama Dog' would punish them, only we aren't using our teeth (hooray opposable thumbs). Give several quick 'shakes' to the left and the right until the dog stops peeing or pooping. IMMEDIATELY after that you need to take the dog outside to where you would prefer it go to the bathroom. This is called correcting and redirecting, and is essential for any dog training.
4. Have a routine at the door or wherever we want the dog to signal us from, where we say something along the lines of "What do we do?" or "What do I want?" that we say a few times. If after 5-10 seconds the dog hasn't sat, help the dog sit (by pushing up on its chin and down on its rear end) and say something like "That's right, we sit!" and then take the dog outside. Within a few days of doing this your dog will start to sit when you go through the routine on his/her own and this is important, without being told to sit. This starts the behavior of notifying us before going outside.
5. Reward the dog for eliminating outside. When you see your dog squatting and using the bathroom, in a very monotone voice say somewhat gently, "Go potty, go potty, go potty." or whatever phrase you like until the dog finishes and then immediately change to an over-the-top level of praise. This helps teach the dog a cue to go on command, and rewards them for going outside.
These are the 5 most critical steps to housebreaking. If your dog is not being rewarded for peeing and pooping in the house, because they are not given the freedom to go unsupervised and you are there to give a mild negative association when it does happen then you have successfully completed the hardest and most important step. Teaching them to cue you at the door and continuing to reward all outside eliminations will be the finishing touches.
If this didn't help as much as you'd like because you cant see anything, check out some information on dog obedience training
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