can anyone suggest how to train our puupy to do it's business outside. he goes for regular walks and randomly goes outside but mostly waits until he comes inside and when we least expect it, within five minutes he's done his business by the front door. we leave newspaper by the front door, we have done since we bought him home at 10 weeks, we have tried moving the newspaper and leaving none at all but he still goes to the same spot.
any suggestions are very welcome.
thank you

Hi Guest, I have a 4.5 month old Great Dane puppy, who has been remarkable easy to housetrain. I never used the paper approach as I feel that you're first allowing the dog to go indoors, then not - just my opinion, I'm sure that it works well for a lot of people. I made sure that I took Diesel out every half hour or so for the first few weeks, and even if it was miserable outside, I stayed with him, and really praised him when he did his business. I've been lucky and only had a couple of puddles inside, but I believe it's best to totally ignore them, unless you actually catch them in the act, you can then say a firm No and take them outside to the spot you want them to use, clean up the mess, preferably not in front of the dog, and start anew for next time. Puppies need consistency. Take him out after you've played with him, he's woken up or he seems to be a bit distracted, he'll soon learn.
Are you around during the day? Also wash the spot by the front door with biological washing powder, that will remove the scent, so he's not so keen to go there next time. Hope that helps a little, you should register, there are lots of people who I'm sure have been in your position at one time or another, and will have lots of ideas to help.
Sharon
X

Guest well done, you trained him well then :)
Why not to use paper 'because we don't realy want our dogs to poop indoors', so why train them 'twice'  Sharon has given good advice, throw the paper out and realy clean the area with bio wash powder.
Good luck but you know you can do it :)
Debbie

You could try teaching him to 'go' to a command.  You'll need to take him out regularly to start off with and when he starts to 'go' use the word you've chosen as your command, eg 'busy'.  Then praise him lots.  Eventually they start to link the 2 together.  When he has an accident inside don't tell him off, just take him inside and tell him to 'busy', then lots of praise when he does. 
I've found this method to be a lot quicker and more successful than using paper.  Its useful if you go to shows, competitions etc, where dogs are not allowed to relieve in the ring.  If you've taught him to go on command you can take him to an appropriate area to relieve himself first.