I have an 8 month old male cocker spaniel. He is currently being kept in a pen outside and I need instruction how to train him, "housebreak" him.
We have only had him 3 days.

You will need to treat him just like an 8 week old puppy. Keep in in part of the house that has easily cleaned floors, and allow him accesss to no more than one other room.

Take him (not put him) outside where you wish him to releive himself, after every meal, when he wakes, has been playing or excited, and every hour between times. Use a word or phrase for the act of toileting, and if he does go in your presense praise lavishly.

in 3 DAYS, I wont say anything more I'm trying to lower my blood pressure. J:)

He`s still a baby I hope he is not alone in `the pen`can`t bear to think about that!
Me thinks its time you went and made up for lost time and take him into the house and give him big cuddles,
welcome him into your home when at the same time teaching him to respect it.Toilet training as I prefer
to call it is a good time to get to know your new puppy as you can spend quite a bit of time together
in the garden waiting for nature to take its course so that you can heap praise on him for being such a clever boy!
Regards Carole

I missed the being kept in pen, I thought that isd where he had been kept prior to coming into your home. If you want him housetrained then he will have to come into the house. Also a dog is a social animal and needs company, being alone outside alone for long periods is tatamount to cruelty. Most kennel dogs have a companion or live side by side with other dogs, and even then spend periods of time in the house in order to be a well adjusted animal around human beings.

the situation is quite capable of being sorted, even at this stage. i toilet trained a 12 year old afghan!
the trick is not to leave the pup unsupervised access to areas in the house. have pup in your living area, closely watched. do not let him wander from room to room if you are not in there too. regularly take him out to the toilet area, and when he performs keep repeating a chosen word, e.g. "wee". when he does this, bring him back in. times he is likely to need to go out are after food, after playing, after sleeping. I found it useful to place sleeping pup in a crate den, he is unlikely to wet his bed. then when he wakes up, take him straight out! plenty of books give advice on crate training, and all my dogs have loved their crate as a den!