All dogs are born with an instinct to keep their environment clean .
Later on it is we humans who decode those systems and the dog starts to make mistakes , and this will develop into bad habits .
First the dog needs to have an area to go and relieve himself (zoning) .
We have to understand the way his /her system works. they eat , they play , they sleep and when they wake up the first thing they do is find a place to relieve themselves .So we prepare and we wake them up and take them to where we want this to happen . This simple operation has to be repeated as many times as necessary. some dogs are easier than others - just like people, but you must be prepared to spend a few weeks before getting an automated response , a real and permanent habit .
When a dog has broken his/her clean instincts and urinates all over the house , you will notice that they tend to use the same places repeatedly and what is happening is that the smell at those places act as a provocation to the dog's system and he is unable to control the urge to act upon it .
The smell of urine is what provokes this reaction .it is a well known and universally accepted fact that dogs relieve themselves against cars tyres , because the rubber used in car tyres smell like urine .
it is not enough to clean the tainted areas with soap and water or household bleach . the areas where the pet has urinated previously can still be detected by the dog's super developed sense of smell. carpets/rugs are an even bigger problem to remove the smell from if made from synthetic fibres and as with natural fibres the only reasonably successful method of removing the pungent odour is by rubbing the fabric with apple vinegar .You can use the vinegar to remove both the odour of urine or faeces equally well .
You will also find that once a dog has developed the bad habit of urinating/defecating on a favourite spot of carpet/rug even when he is regularly taken out for a walk to allow him to relieve himself at a more appropriate place he will in reality "hold himself in" preferring to do it when they come back home in the comfort of the living room and on the familiar zone of the persian carpet . that is why i emphasize that any tips for correcting bad habits will most definitely not work unless they are applied in conjunction with with a course of obedience training .