This is when a crate/kennel is very useful. Dogs won't soil their dens (crates), so you use this to your advantage. I can't imagine house training a pup without one. Here's how it works.

1) take puppy outside (on a leash), give command word for pottying (we say "zoom zoom"). Allow 3-4 minutes to do her thing. Use the same area each time because the smell of the pee/poop there will clue her into what's expected. If she goes, PRAISE LIKE CRAZY! And give her a super special yummy treat reserved just for pottying outside. This way she learns that pottying outside means yummy treat and happy mum. She will get the idea that this is what you want her to do.

2) if she doesn't go in those 3-4 minutes, then take her inside and put her straight in the crate for about 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes has passed, repeat step #1. Keep doing this until she goes outside.

When you bring her back inside, she should only have limited freedom if she's done her business outside. If she hasn't gone outside, then you already know what happens - she will just go when and where ever she likes. Each time she's allowed to potty inside on the floor, it sets back the house training a lot (this is why paper training is not good). So you need to do your best to avoid this. I never gave my pups any freedom inside the house until they were well over 7 months old - I kept them tethered to me with a leash, or tied to something stable nearby. This let them socialize and play, but they weren't able to sneak off and pee somewhere. Mine never gave any indication they they needed to go - I just made sure I brought them out every hour or so. I was able to fully house train my two boys using this method, and they were both accident free by the age of 7-8 months (and now, full grown, they pee on command - useful for road trips!). If she has accidents, you can't admonish after the fact. You can only correct if you catch in the act, and even then, be low-key - just say "no", pick her up, take her right outside and let her finish there. You must clean the soiled areas really well with an enzyme cleaner like Petastic - not sure if you have that in the UK but there must be some equivalent. If the soiled areas still smell like pee/poo, then Vegas will smell it and think that's the place to go.

Hope this helps - I know house training can be tiresome but it doesn't last forever, and if you are consistent (and use a crate), she will pick it up really fast.

Accident free by 7-8 months? That seems very old to me, I don't expect to get any accidents with mine now and they are 17 and 13 weeks, we are two weeks clean atm. But they do have a pet flap so they can get out whenever they want.

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jamie thanks for the advice, but i want vegas totally potty trained before she is 7/8 months old. im hoping she will be very soon, in the next few weeks!

she was going on paper for over a week, but then a day ago she started going wherever she wanted, we tell her no when she does this and it seems as though we are right back to square one again! she is now peeing next to her food bowl and she only stated to do this a day ago!

hey - if you can go 6 months without a single accident, then more power to you! But in my experience, this is rare. I belong to quite a few other dog message boards, and there are many many people out there with dogs still having accidents in the house at 1 year of age. A dog flap/door must help a lot - not an option for us as it would only let the wildlife (raccoons) in!

Darcare4dogs - this method will work on any puppy of just about any age....it does not mean your pup won't be trained by 7-8 months. I would give it more than a few weeks, though. Some dogs take longer than others....just like potty training a child!

Daisy was house trained by 13 weeks we had her at 7 weeks and this too with a dodgy tummy , she took a little longer to be dry over night but we did crate her till she had settled with the tummy thing then she slept with us upstairs when she had been completely dry for a week over night , and she only had one accident on the second night of sleeping with us in our room on her bed on the floor. we were diligent during the day taking her out every 10 -20 mins she soon got the message , and any accidents she did have were usually through excitement during play , or us not watching her body language properly . It can take longer though our friends Beagle was still messing in the house at 15 months old she was also crated and would pee in her crate at night then howl to be let out .

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vegas had an accident this morning when she woke up. i took her downstairs to have breakfast and then put her outside. after about 10 minutes she did a wee and after about another 35 minutes she did a poo. she got lots of praise and will carry on putting her out every 20-30mins when shes awake and straight away when she wakes up, after eating, sleeping and drinking!

is there anything else i can do to help her apart from crating her??????

just a quick update. vegas has been very good today, she has only had a few accidents today. she has been letting us know when she wants to go out. shes doing very well and im sooooooo pleased!