i have a male staffie (neutered) approx 7 yrs old he came from a rescue centre about 3 yrs ago.
previous owners moved abroad and before them was apparently stray so not had good life so far bless him needless to say very much loved now!!.
at the beginning was peeing everywhere up my curtains the lot but found that was because he having run of the house since then have locked him in the kitchen/hall when going out and to bed etc. he does continue to pee in the kitchen at night even though ive been letting him out sufficiently during day/evening and even standing out there with him to make sure he goes!.
if i go out during the day he will be fine for a couple of hours sometimes not very often though he getting praise when doing outside etc and have been ignoring him when he doing it inside the problem is what do i do on a couple of occasions i come so close to throwing in the towel but i love him so much and he is great with my toddler (you couldnt wish for a better dog other than the peeing problem).
help me

Two questions - what do you do when you come home and find he's peed?  What do you clean up with?

thanks for your help (i've registered now by the way) in response to your advice when i come home and find that he peed i normally take him to the spot ask him what it is tell him it's naughty and then put him in the garden and leave him there for bout 10-15 mins as for cleaning it up i brought some deterent/anti-bac cleaner and believe it or not it seemed to appear in more places then so now i using lavender cleaner as someone else recommended it because of the strong smell any other advice would be really helpful thanks!!

Hi - when you get back and find a puddle the very best thing you can do is completely ignore it. Don't point it out, don't talk sternly about it. Take him out in the garden (don't just put him out) and play with him a bit, then go indoors and just clean it up. The more of a big deal you make of it, the more anxious and insecure he'll become, and the more he's likely to wee ... vicious circle!

Clean it up with a biological washing solution and, if it's on a hard surface, wipe over with white spirit, surgical spirit, or some people recommend vinegar.

I think JG has hit the nial on the head.  By telling him off you are adding to the anxiety he feels when he's left alone - he makes no connection between the puddle and him making it - all he knows is that when you come home you aren't happy - and it seems to be his fault! :(

By cleaning with the bio washing powder your clean away most of the smell, the white spirit spray will clear away the fatty acids in the urine which hold the smell, causing him to 'remark'.

even when cleaning it up he sits in his bed and watches me with his head all coy and eyes sqinty as if he knows he done someting wrong and that with out me saying anything!!
i think i've got myself a very complex animal - lol-
but needless to say i'm never giving up

That's because he's giving you appeasement signals NOT expressing any sense of wrong doing.  Dogs communicate via body language and are VERY good at it, they also learn our body language very quickly too (dogs are far better at following visual instructions than verbal ones), so he's learnt from your body language that you are not happy, and he's using his body language as he would to a pack leader to appease you.

I think you need to find out if this is a peeing (holding a full bladder) or marking problem.  As you are aware most male dogs like to mark their territory, and unfortunately many do this indoors too, as they don't know it is unacceptable.

Sadly he may have learnt to mark indoors due to being insecure.  A bit like making a hotel room more homely by putting your things out on the dresser.

My freind had this problem with a houstrained puppy when he reached adolescence.  What cured him was crating him, when he couldn't be watched.  As she worked she was very loath to do it, but we teamed up and I went in and let him out every two hours in the day.  After a couple of weeks he had stopped doing it.

This is the one instance where you should not ignore accidents if you catch him in the act or attempting to leg lift, stern disapproval and take him outside and praise if he performs there.

Of course it could be that he just can't hold his  wee for too long?  Are you finding a big puddle or lots of marked places?  It would be worth having the Vet check him out to check there is no urinary infection.

Something that seems to be used in the USA is something they call belly bands.  they are either a belt that holds a sanitary pad that is fastened around the dog covering his peeing equipment. or just an elastic bandage holding an absorbent piece of towelling (a face flannel would do).  The dog finds it wets itself when lifting his leg, so is less keen to do so, and seems to work for some.  Obviously you could not leave a dog like this for any length of time as he could end up with urine scalding.

it is mostly big puddles with the occasional spray. i do think this has a lot to do with insecurity as when i'm about to leave the house he'll follow me around and then sit on his bed shaking and looking very sad!! i've tried the going out then coming back in after a while and we got it up quite far but after 3 hrs he does pee.
he does seem very much like a peoples dog if you know what i mean he would love to be near you all the time i've even tried putting him behind the stair gate so he can see us but not be constantly with us as soon as you let him out he just goes to his bed so do you think he thinking this is happening because he naughty?
i'm just willing to try anything i dont want to have to let him go but i will definatly get him to the vets to get them to check him out theanks for the advice! 

i got up at 5 this morning and let him out whilst he was out checked floor no pee!! (fantastic) then went back to bed and got up at 9 there was still no pee so do we think now that i'm gonna have to get up in middle of night to stop this from happening all the time??

For the time being it might be an idea to help break the 'Mum comes in, Mums not happy 'cos there's a puddle on the floor and then I get stressed.' thing that seems to be going on - so long as you aren't going down because he's barking or making a fuss, and that he doesn't learn that there is any sort of reward from you coming down apart from the opportunity to relieve his bladder (not chatting with him, not eye contact - just walk to the door, open it and let him out, reward the correct action outside, then come in again) and leave him.