Hi all,
New to the board here, and my first dilema is as follows. My fiancee and I have got a 9/10 week old Border Collie pup (Duke), he is great in most cases, apart from where he constantly does his business in the house, even after just being out, or from playing in the garden he, comes in settles for 10 mins or so then does his stuff.
We're going out of our mind tidying up after him, is there a simple way to deter him from doing this in the house..??

When you put him out in the garden go out with him. Stay out there until he has been to the toilet. Use a word/command constantly ie, wee wee's etc every time you go out. When he has gone, give him loads of praise. He will quickly pick up that its good to go in the garden.  At this age you are looking at putting him out on a regular basis, ie, first thing when he wakes up, after each meal, after each sleep, after you've played with him. Stick with and he will get there. I have a bc bitch and she was text book. Only ever a couple of accidents in the house. I now have a bc boy and he was the muckiest little mite in the world. Did the same as you went out in the garden would do a number 1. Then come in and do a number two. So I sat out everytime until he went. However long it took. He was definately dirtier than my bitch.
He will come right. Sometimes it takes longer with dogs than bitches.

yes dont scolled him when he does it indoars just ignore him.
try to spend as much time in the garden with him as posible and when he does his business give lots of praise using words you want to use i use clever girl dont use these words for any other praise just for when he does his buisness out side.It works and in no time your dog will be going to do his buisness at your command.
hope this helps

Only other thing I'd add to the other replies is:  if you see him about to do something grab him and get him to the garden as quickly as possible let him do his stuff praise him and take him back in.  It takes a little while to get them fully house trained but it will happen so don't dispair.

Steve

We do spend a lot of time outside with him, although maybe we should try this after meal/sleep etc...  Thanks for the replies, we'll get there with him.. :D

Everytime my puppy wakes up I take him out & he's been clean for weeks but I like to positively reinforce the peeing etc outside, he now takes himself off at other times to go & he still gets loads of praise

At your puppy's age I wouldn't expect him to be 100% or anywhere near. In 45+ odd years of dog owning I've had one dog who was house trained from day one 7 weeks of age & most are completed trained by 16 weeks give or take the odds mistake.

Lots of fuss when he goes outside I always give a command so that the pup knows what you want If there's an indoor mistake clean up & say nothing not even a look so that the puppy gets no reaction at all

One thing to add here: at such a young age you should only really let him have access to ONE room in the house. Once he starts to be more reliable you can increase the rooms he is allowed to be in. He's more likely to have accidents indoors if he has a large area to be in. The best room is often the kitchen if there is a back door there, then he will get used to going to the door when he needs to go out.

I foubnd that the best way to housetrain a pup was to watch it all the time it was awake. Whichever room I was in, so was the pup, and although I might be doing something else, one eye would always be on the puppy. Just as you wouldn't leave a crawling baby unattended and loose, the same with the puppy. If I had to go out, pup went in a playpen.

This way you learn to recognise the signs that he feels the need to go; little whimpers, sniffing the floor, circling an area, looking a bit agitated. This is the time you spring into action and cheerfully and excitedly call him out into the garden, and stay with him till he's performed (it may take a while for him to get back into the mood to go!), when you can give him lots of praise.

Housework generally gets done when pup's either asleep or someone else in 'on watch'. It's time-consuming and can be very boring, but it works.
:)

just like to add.... dont forget to clean the area he's "been " in thoroughly as any trace of smell will encourage him to go there again :-)