I can see from the pages that there are many topics as such and I have read quite a few.  I've decided to post an additional topic to see the thoughts apon my puppy.  She is an 11week old Lab/Shephard mix.  When I first got her (5 days ago), she was nervous as all heck, but that has almost completely gone away.  With this in mind, she wouldn't eat at all to begin with.  Day by day shes eating a little more but I know shes not eating enough yet.  Im not to worried because I see increases.  Right off the bat she started wetting the carpet, and I did what I thought was correct.  I started to scold her softly at first, but this is a real problem!  I have almost been with her 24/5 and everytime she whimpers I try to take her outside.  I read posts to not "put" her outside, and before I had, I was making her walk outside herself.  There are steps though, so Im unsure if I should "put" her outside or not now.  She has been walking down them slow and softy, but from what I read I'm thinking I shouldn't allow it.  She was whimpering everytime she had to go almost, and It had been a success until today!  Oh today was horrible :(.  I thought I had actually gotten her to whimper at me before she had to go (use the facilities).  8 out of 10 times she would let me know ... HEY I need to go outside!  If she had wet the carpet and I saw her do it I would immediately scold her, hold her there and say "No" over and over.  I spanked her butt a little, very little, and gentle.  If I dont catch her in the act I know its impossible to bring her back to the action at hand.  This had started to work very well until today.  Everytime I lost sight of her today, she wet the carpet!  No sign, no whimper.  I would scold her, and take her outside everytime.  She did this 7 times today.  She was with me and my dad today for the most part (hadn't interacted with my dad so much before), and had been sitting on the couch with us all day pretty much.  I was with her and she gave me no signs.  My first thoughts are to just continue this slow proccess.  If there isn't something I'm doing, or I need to fix a way I do something, I'd really appreciate the advise.  I appologize if you have read something so similar to this, that you are rolling your eyes :P .  A new puppy is frustrating, I know.

I suggest you start all over again in training your puppy.  First thing - puppies of that age don't have full control of their bodily functions,  Secondly they don't "know" that they are supposed to give us some sort of signal to "ask out" ;)   As a consequence of these two facts, it's always OUR fault when a puppy soils indoors - they need to be taken into the garden and waited with until they "perform" - simultaneously you should repeat a cue word such as "busy" or "hurry up" that they eventually learn to associate with what they are physicallly doing at the time AND, soon as they  *go*, lots of praise for how clever she's been :)  Take her out every half hour or so that she's awake,  immediately after eating or playing games, immediately on wakening from a nap.  If she's up and sniffing for a milli-second, pick her up and take her outdoors.  Watch her like a hawk - you have to patiently train her, she will then slowly pick up the right signals.
Please, NEVER scold your puppy for any indoor accidents and even more importanly SPANKING is a complete no-no - regardless of how "gently" :(  Dogs don't have hands so don't understand violence from them.

Good luck, Teri

Teri's regime should do you very well.  The gently spanking may well have led to your pup hiding from you when she does it and may even be the reason for the wimpering, she may actually now be frighted to go in front of you.  Try to correct this idea but making being outside fun, playing games as you wait for a performance and reward profusely when it happens.

Yea I've always heard scolding was the best method, but that does make sense.  She made number 9 already ...  The worse thing now is, the millisecond I am not with her, she goes!  She is such a fun dog to play with, but a second later that I look elsewhere, she goes.  I was taking her outside, and i turned my back to open the door.  I had to go get her (Didnt know the surprise she left) and took her outside.  For 30 minutes, nothing.  I walk inside and stepped in it.  I couldn't have left her alone for 15 seconds.  I took in mind that I shouldn't "put" her outside, but I'm going to start to always now.  I will stop the "gentle" spanking, but I just ask this.  How does the dog know when its wetting the carpet that it's wrong if you don't scold it?   Most times, you can't stop the dog from going, because it will just let it out regardless of what you do, unless I'm in hand reach of her.  I understand and feel so bad scolding her =/  I hated scolding the dog the few times I already have, which is why I'm here ... :)  Another question I have is; How does the dog figure out the difference of going outside versus inside?  By taking it outside over and over, and praising it when it drains itself outside to me means shes praised for just going.  By what I've gathered I have to be around her 24/7 and take her out 20 times a day.  I can handle that, but I don't see the turning point/factor that corrects the dogs behavior.

You just have to be very patient with her :) She will get there in the end - but you have to be prepared that it will take weeks, maybe months. Just keep at it and don't give up :)

Daisy

Hi again :)  1) As Isabel pointed out, she may have become nervous of "going" in front of you - puppies are easily confused and we have to be very consistent with them from day one - everyone in the household has to use the same set of rules, words etc  & 2) As Daisy pointed out patience is the real key here.

>How does the dog figure out the difference of going outside versus inside?  By taking it outside over and over, and praising it when it drains itself outside to me means shes praised for just going<

Short answer - habituation.  She *will* make the association of outside being the *right* place to go if you make sure that 9/10 you've placed her there to do it ;) and that the occasional accident isn't fussed over.  Dogs have an inherent desire to please us so if you let her know you're delighted when she gets it right that will stick - if you show anger she will not understand what she's done wrong - only learn to fear a negative response for goodness knows what :(  HTH, Teri :) 

I don't see any problem with picking pup up and carrying her outside, as Teri says its the habit of going there that you are establishing here, asking to go out will follow when she knows where she would rather do it to get the praise :)
My back steps are a little steep I continue lifting my pups down them even when we are at the stage of asking out and carry on until they can handle them easily as a bad fall may not only be damaging but could put a pup off asking to go that way.
Please no more chastisements of any description, as you will no doubt have picked up now, they are actually counterproductive :)

I have been lifting my pup down the steps as they are also steep, it is still working and his training is going great. My hubbie has just made a ramp so that should be easier, that's if he likes it! Good luck with it all and perservere.xxx

Today went a lot better.  I decided to set words as a standard now.  "Go potty" and "Good girl"  I use the words until she goes outside, and now im giving her treats as well praising her when she goes outside.  She was unable or didn't want these treats until I gave her a bigger bone to chew.  It's made her teeth very strong and she goes at that bone for hours.  Outside, she sometimes shows no signs of having to go, so I play with her until she does, or either she walks back to the door.  She pays no attention at all to me talking to her when shes outside walking around, but as soon as she starts to go and I say "good girl" she looks at me.  She doesn't know her name yet lol "Jessie" , but I'm sure she'll get there.  The steps I'm talking about are normal size, and there's just 1 for her to manuever around.  I even put a small log on the side so she could climb it easier, but she goes around it :P  I will continue to say "No" and do my best to stop her accidents in the house from happening when I catch them, but I will no longer "chastise" her for mistakes.  I understand a puppy is a puppy :)  Thanks for all the information! 

At this stage you should not say the trigger words until she is actually performing followed by praise, only when she fully understands what they mean can you use them as a command.  At the moment you are in danger of teaching her that "good girl" is the command to go which could lead to embarassing situations ;)