Housetrain your dog

You are trying to teach your dog to go to the bathroom outdoors. Focus on rewarding the desired behavior - if your dog figures this out, then they will stop going indoors as a side effect. It generally works best to have a designated spot in your yard (or just outside your apartment) which you take your dog to. Take your dog to the designated spot (merely letting them outside isn't enough - they should get praise as they start urinating or defecating and get their treat within a second or two after finishing). Give them about 5 minutes. Too short and they won't have enough time to sniff around and get comfortable; too long and they'll get in the habit of taking their time, which can be really inconvenient in a rainstorm. If they don't go in 5 minutes, take them inside (closely supervised or crated), and try again later, maybe in a half hour or so.

If your dog goes to the bathroom indoors, and you don't catch them in the act, don't bother to punish them. They won't associate the punishment with something they did minutes or hours before. Simply clean up the mess and resolve to be more careful in the future. If you carefully supervise your dog and crate them when you are not able to, they won't have the chance to have an accident. If at all possible, maintain a 100% success rate by very careful supervision and crating. Every time that your dog gets to relieve themselves indoors, they are getting a reward (relief) for going to the bathroom indoors, and you set back your housetraining efforts greatly. If you maintain this procedure rigorously, you won't have to keep up your vigilence for very long (for an adult dog, you'll be well on your way within 24 hours). Soon your dog will be holding it in until their next scheduled potty break, and you'll have only yourself to blame if you forget to go for the potty break on time.

If you do catch your dog in the act, you have more of a learning opportunity. Make a noise or something else sufficient enough to get them to stop temporarily. Then take them to their potty spot immediately. If they go to the bathroom while outside, reward them! They're now doing what you want, and they will associate the praise or treat with what they are doing as they get the reward (that is, going to the bathroom outside), not with what they did indoors. Don't try to punish the dog - in the worst case they'll just learn to go to the bathroom when you aren't around, which isn't the desired lesson. Instead of punishment, focus on getting them outside where they can perform the behavior that you want instead.

When cleaning up dog urine, make sure to use one of the enzyme based cleaners that you get at a pet store. If the urine smell lingers, it may encourage your dog to use that spot again. Even for feces, it is good to apply a spot of the cleaner (your dog's nose is much more sensitive than yours).

You dog's behavior is not always a reliable guide to knowing when they want to go out. Some dogs will bark at the door, come over to you and sit attentively, or even something else like chasing the cat (having found that gets your attention). However, it takes time to figure these things out and when you are starting housetraining you want to be getting 100% success from the start.

Therefore, you want to be on a schedule. Puppies will generally need to go out every few hours. They'll need to go out 20 minutes after drinking water. By giving your puppy food and water on a schedule, you'll be able to predict when they'll need to go outside. A puppy will probably also need to go outside in the middle of the night, although you can reduce this need (if not always remove it) by not feeding right before bedtime.

With an adult dog, your dog is physically capable of holding it for roughly 8 to 10 hours (it varies for different dogs). When first housetraining, try to take them out every few hours. More trips outside mean more chances for them to get it right, and for you to reinforce what you want.