Puppy Pains Need some help please.

Here is the story 4 days ago I bought a yellow lab from a breeder. He is 12 weeks old and has been raised in a barn. My wife and I have a house that is perfect for raising dogs, old wood floors, small living spaces and a large backyard.
We have been using a crate and it has worked for nights, he sleeps about 3-5 hours before we need to take him out to go potty 1 and 2. "Bruno" has been good at night but during the day it has been a a challenge to get him to go potty outside. We wake up taking him out and he does good. Then we feed him and take him out and he does not go. He will walk around outside for a half hour and sniff at plant or two but not go potty. We then take him back inside and with out warning he goes potty inside. We tried taking him for a walk after he eats and it is like he holds it until we get back because he then goes in the house.
My mom has said to leave him in the crate for an hour after he eats then let him out. My wife thinks that the crate needs to be a positive place as it has been working at nights and putting him in after eating could make it a negative place.
Me, I learn from people with experience and here is where I turn. Let me know your experiences and your results to help Bruno get house trained.

Thank you in advance for your help.
Todd

I am a HUGE fan of tethering.

When you don't want to keep your dog in it's crate, put a leash on him and tie him to YOUR side. He is with you all the time then, and you can correct/praise him as needed.

By correcting, I mean saying a sharp "NO! STOP!". Do NOT hit the dog. Your voice will be your correction, not your hands. Doing this will make them stop exactly what they are doing, and focus on you. Pick him up and take him out.

When you have him outside, keep him out for about 15-30 minutes. If he doesn't go, bring him in and crate him, and take him out in a half an hour. Repeat this until he goes.

Now onto the praise. I don't recommend praising potty training with treats, you don't want your dog to associate food with going out. Instead, get a highly valuable toy. When he goes to the potty, reward him with some play time with that special toy.

Hope this helps!!!

It will take a few times of catching him "in the act" to have the accidents stop--this means pretty much at this age you need to be staring at him constantly--really.

I barely could watch any TV while Wrigley was a pup I was staring at him so intently--for him it only took 4-5 times catching him indoors and we never had another accident.

I would try the tethering or staring at them approach and if you can'd do that than crate. I wouldn't imagine why this would make the crate negative unless you are punishing him as you are putting him in there.

You let him out of his crate, take him outside, on a lead. You stand in one spot and you let him have only that much room to walk around. Give him a few minutes. If he doesn't do his business, take him right back inside to his crate. Try again in a few minutes.

I'm not a fan of correcting. However, praise is wonderful.

All of our dogs are trained to pee/poop on command.

When you take your dog out on a lead, and he starts to go, for example, our word for pee, is piddles, say something like "good piddles" and treat. The same for poop, our word is poopers.

Do not give the dog a chance to make a mistake. Tether him to you, but don't do that if you KNOW he is going to pee inside. Don't give him that opportunity.

After he has eliminated properly.. reward him with your words and treat and a short play session.. he will soon get the hint. Worked three times for us. Good luck!

Thank you all. I've been using this method all day and no accidents. I will keep you updated.

Which method? lol

Glad whatever is working is working for you! That's good news.

Or you could try walking. 30 minutes is enough time to walk close to 2 miles. I've never seen a dog that could hold it through a 2 mile walk.

If you give your dog a treat after he goes potty, he's not associating food with potty, he's associating potty with food. Many people successfully potty training without treats, and that's fine, I just wanted to point out this association.

I like to use whatever reward the dog just LOVES as a reward for going potty in the right place. My dog doesn't particularly like toys, giving her a toy for going potty would not be rewarding for her, but for many dogs that's fine. If your dog just LOVES petting and attention from you, then when you take him outside, don't give any attention until he potties, then give lots of praise and petting as the reward.

I would, though, fade out the big reward relatively quickly in the potty training process. Once your puppy is about 6 months old and can reliably hold it in the house and potty when you want him to outside, then you can start giving the big reward (treats, petting, toy, whatever) about 2/3 of the time he potties; the other 1/3 you can just verbally praise. Then gradually (over several weeks) give the big reward for 1/2, then 1/3, then 1/4 or less of the potties. My dog has been potty trained for 3 years, and I still give her a treat for pottying outside about once every two weeks (she never knows when it's coming, of course), and praise her every time.