Ideally, every dog would be both paper-trained and outdoor housetrained. Even if you think you will always take the dog out when he needs to "go," there might be situations in the future where you wish you had paper-trained your dog. By far, the most common motivation to paper-train is that the owner is gone for periods of time where the puppy cannot be taken out on a regular schedule.

Examples of other circumstances where being paper-trained is valuable include visiting a friend in a third-story apartment, staying in a hotel room in a bad part of town, when you're ill or injured, during inclement weather, etc.

Paper-training means training a dog to eliminate on newspapers. You can train your dog to eliminate both on paper and outside quite easily. However, you must only reward correct outdoor elimination. You will need to train your dog to only eliminate inside on paper when and where this approach is the second choice. With paper-training, the dog learns to use the paper when confined, and to expect he will be neither rewarded nor scolded. However, if you live in a situation where you particularly don't want the dog to eliminate outside, it is appropriate to praise elimination on papers if observed.

Dogs have an instinct to avoid soiling their sleeping area. The key to paper-training is confinement. You need to confine the puppy in an area where he must sleep and eliminate.

To properly paper-train the puppy

1)	Determine a confinement area about five to 15 feet square. If you have no other alternative, an exercise pen from the pet store, set up in the kitchen, will work nicely. In most cases, a small bathroom works best.
2)	In the corner of the area, where you want the puppy to sleep, place a comfortable pet bed or towel on the floor. Dogs normally spend up to 80 percent of their time sleeping anyway.
3)	Do not leave food for the dog in the area. Only leave water for him there if you will be gone more than six hours.
4)	Opposite the dog bed, spread a large area of newspapers. The paper should be several thickness deep. A dog will normally move five to 15 feet away from his bed to eliminate. At first, your puppy will stand over the newspapers by coincidence when he relieves himself.
5)	When you come home, don't give a big greeting if you want the dog to learn to eliminate outside. Reserve the greeting until after he has eliminated for you when you take him out.
6)	Don't let the dog see you clean up any elimination.
7)	Remove all the newspaper except the one with the smallest dot of urine soaked through. This carries the scent that will attract the dog to the spot in the future.
8)	Put a new stack of newspapers on the floor. Place the soiled (scented) layer of newspaper on top.
9)	As the dog is successful, you should make the area covered by the paper smaller and smaller.
10)	Eventually, the dog will not soil the papers and be waiting to go to the area where the reward happens. (Reward = greetings, food treats, play, and concentrated attention.)

Dr. Denis Fetco: "Dogs can hold urine one hour longer than their age in months." (For example, a two-month old can hold for three hours; a puppy five months old can hold for six hours, etc. , for up to 12 hours.)