2 year old Poodle, Miniture

Question
Can a poodle be retarded?  I have tried all the advice on house training a dog.  I brought her home at 8 weeks, kept her in a cage, took her out at frequent intervals, tried every suggestion I could hear about.  Now she is 2 years old and still goes anywhere in the house she can(not the same spot)if she gets loose. My house has one large room upstairs- I rarely go upstairs.  Recently I took some items upstairs to store away and was appalled to find pee and poop everywhere.  I could hardly believe my eyes! I have since cleaned the carpet and put up a pet gate so she can't go upstairs. What I don't understand is -  I take her out every morning, she always does her business.  I stand there and watch her, praise her, give her a treat and I think she won't mess up now.  Wrong! Fifteen minutes later, I will poop either in front of the couch or under the dining room table.  I take her outside almost every hour of the day and she still messes up if I don't keep her in the laundry room with a gate up or in her cage. Then she cries and never stops.  She sounds like a tortured animal and I can't stand that. I can't keep her inside and she is making my life miserable inside.

Answer
Hello Jean,
Some dogs just don't take to housetraining as easily as others.  You are going to have to re-train your girl to potty on your schedule and not on hers.  
First, if you free feed her, Stop and start feeding her 1-2 times a day instead.  You should also pull her water up 2 hours before you go to bed so that there isn't water in her system during the night.  

After she eats in the morning (feed her in her crate) make her wait about 30 minutes and then take her outside.  Praise her when she goes then bring her inside.  If she still potties once she is back inside, then when she comes inside, its back in her crate for another 15 minutes, then back outside to do her 2nd round of potty.  
Take her outside around lunch time doing the same routine, then the same thing after she eats dinner, then just before you go to bed.  

You say that you cleaned up the potty messes in your house, but you most likely didn't get the smell good enough for her (dogs noses are alot stonger than our noses, so even though you can't smell anything anymore, she most likely can).
Wal-Mart sells a product called OUT in the pet section or a product called Kids N' Pets back in the cleaning products isle.  Both of these products have enzymes that will "eat" the odor out of the carpet (or floor surface) so that the dog won't be as willing to return to the same spot.  

You might also hang a large jingle bell on your door that the dog goes outside to potty through.  When you let her out, have her touch the bell with her nose.  Praise her, then let her go and do her business.  As she does this before each potty time, she will learn to ring the bell when she has to go potty.  Praise her greatly when she rings the bell on her own for the first few times.  
Don't have her ring the bell when you go out for a walk or anything other than going outside to potty.  You don't want her ringing the bell just to go outside and play.  

I hope this helps you some.  If you have other questions or concerns, please feel free to ask.

Thanks for using AllExperts.com,
Kim