I’ll give 5 Do’s and 5 Dont’s and some supporting information to help things along. Potty training is essentially about creating consistent success and eliminating all possibility of failures (accidents).

Do’s:

Reward your dog with food, affection or play as soon as they finish eliminating in the correct place, wherever that might be. It’s important to do this immediately afterward and not when the dog comes back inside. We want our message to be very clear “Going here is way better than going anywhere else”.
Use a leash when taking your dog to its potty place. This ensures your dog gets right down to business and doesn’t turn the situation into a game. It also makes it incredibly easy to reward them for getting it right. Try letting them off the leash as soon as they go if you have a little time to play with them and want to reward them with some fun.
Pick one place for your dog to eliminate and stick to it. It makes it way easier for them to understand what we want if the location never changes.
Create an area, aside from a crate, where your dog can spend its time and you won’t be upset if they eliminate. I have a big dog so I bought a 5X10 outdoor kennel that I kept him in when I wasn’t home. Playpens set up inside your home for smaller dogs work just fine too.
Take your dog to its potty area every two hours if you can. The more frequently you take them, the less they have an opportunity to have an accident.

Dont’s

Never punish your dog for having an accident. It’s your fault anyway. Punishing our dogs for eliminating in the wrong place just makes them nervous to go in front of us and hurts the process. Instead, immediately take them to the correct place. If your lucky, you will interrupt them and they will finish in the correct place. If it’s too late, then learn from your mistake and figure out why it happened.
Don’t leave your dog or puppy unattended or loose in your home before its potty trained. This is essentially asking for a problem. They cannot make good decisions for themselves yet and leaving them to their own devices is working against your training.
Don’t put Potty Pads everywhere. I’ve seen this so much and it’s totally counter productive. Most potty pads are made with a pheromone that attracts our dogs to go on them, but if the potty pads are in every room, what are we really communicating to them? go wherever you want basically. Put them all in one place if you need to use them.
Don’t buy a bigger crate than your dog needs. The crate is supposed to be a sleeping den/safe place for our dogs. However, sometimes the idea to get them “one they’ll grow into” or “one they can stretch out in” takes us down the wrong the path. If it’s too big our dogs will just pee on one side and sleep on the other. We want them to learn to hold it through the night, and big crates don’t help.
Don’t get impatient. Good Potty training takes time. Just because its been 3 weeks without an accident doesn’t mean your dog is ready to be free in your house all day. Don’t take risks that are unnecessary just because you want your dog to be farther along than they are.

These tips work for dogs of all ages and breeds. Thanks for reading!

Training is essentially communication. Training of any animal consists of give and takes, rewards and punishments, and eventually it becomes a language of its own. To communicate with our animals we have to be more clear than we usually are, and it is absolutely possible for every person to learn to do. The goal is to keep it simple! So let's break down exactly how to start speaking dog.

I used to refer to this as "Command Structure" to give people the idea that everything they say to their dog matters. If we are careful about what, when and how we communicate , then it becomes easier for our dogs to learn what we mean. Knowing what to say is the easy part (usually!) but the timing and tone will determine our dogs reactions. I have found, so have many other trainers and dog behavior experts, that there is a standard way of communicating that all dogs can figure out and retain. It goes like this

Command, Marker, Reward, Release

Command: This is what you are either trying to teach your dog or what your asking your dog to do. Commands should be given audibly, positively, and only ONCE. Remember that simplicity is the goal so only giving your commands once allows your dog the opportunity to figure out what that word means. Ex: Sit, Down, Here, Stay...

Marker: A marker can be both positive and negative. If your dog responds to your command in the way that you were hoping than a positive marker needs to be said to your dog. I usually say "Good!" with a very severe upward inflection, I'm trying to convey happiness with my tone of voice. If your dog does not respond to your command in the way your were hoping, than a negative marker needs to be said. Negative markers are meant to communicate an error; they are not meant to punish your dog. I usually use a short, sharp and negative sound like "Aht" or "eh-eh". Remember markers are to communicate, so stay clear and calm the entire time. Repeat if your dog needs it!

Reward: This is the most important part! If you've given the command, followed up with a positive marker, and got what you asked for, then the reward is the next step. If your dog did not respond the way you were hoping, do not reward your dog. The title of this post is The Power of "Yes!" for a reason; using a reward word like "Yes!" makes it incredibly easy for your dog to know exactly what they did right! Eventually, the word "Yes!" becomes the reward and you and your dog are speaking the same language. To implement this with any dog, just start saying "Yes!" before you hand them their rewards and they'll figure it out in time.

Release: Once the reward has been given there is a very special moment that most dog owners miss out on. When all dogs are given something tasty to eat, get a nice rub down, or play a fun game of tug they want it again right afterward; they want the fun to keep going. If we never keep the conversation going after the rewards our dogs will learn that once the job is done "people are boring and I'm going to find something to do". We need to avoid allowing our dogs to learn that lesson. The way to do that is to use a release word like "Ok!" or "Done!" after giving the reward for the command we're working on. To help your dog get the idea faster, give another reward immediately after the first, then another, then use the release word. After the release, put your treats/toy away and turn your body away from your dog as well. Your dog should quickly learn to wait for the release before walking away from a training session.

This method of communication is the foundation of how we should train and live with our dogs every day. Implementing this info into our daily interactions with our dogs will drastically improve our relationships, our dog's responsiveness and understanding, and will (hopefully!) prevent us from getting too frustrated! Feel free to ask questions in the comments! Thanks for reading.