how can i teach my dog to pee outside

Question
I have a poodle dog and she is pregnant or so we think.  She is trained not to do her business inside.  So if she is pregnant and when the puppies are born, we wanted to train the puppies to do their business outside. Do you know any way i can teach them when they are born?

Answer
Hello Sabrina,
When your puppies are really little the mother will keep their area clean and free of waste.  You will need to help her by cleaning the papers (you will want to put papers down where the puppies are going to be so that it makes cleaning up after them easy) up when the puppies poo and pee.  
When they get old enough (about 6 weeks), start taking them outside (its best if you take them out in a fenced in area) to the same spot and praise them when they potty. Put some of the soiled papers on the spot where you want them to go so that they can smell that they have gone there before.  It will help with teaching them where you want them to go.  Tell them they are good puppies, or give them a small treat.
 
As they get older (around 12 weeks as this is when they start getting bladder control), I would take them outside about every hour or two to train their bladders to start getting on a scheduel.  You will want to also move the papers to cover about 1/2 the area that the puppies stay in.  This teaches them that then need to move over to the papers to do their business and not to just squat whereever they are and go.

Eventually, you can leave just a corner of the puppy area in papers and you can increase the amount of time that they have to hold it (from 1-2 hours to maybe 3-4 hours)
Remember, lots of praise when they go where they are suppose to go.  Tell them NO! in a loud voice when they potty where you don't want them to go.  
It is also advisable that you have only one puppy out of the pen area at a time so that you don't have to try and keep your eye on more than one puppy at a time.  

As to your question about your dog possibly being pregnant.  
If the male was introduced to the female in the middle of her heat and if she accepted him, and if there were several breedings the same day, then she could very well be pregnant.  Female dogs stay pregnant for 63 days from the first breeding (as long as it took).
At 45 days, your Vet can do an ultrasound to see if there are puppies present.  You might contact your Vet to see if there is a way to detect puppies earlier than that.  As the time gets closer you might see your dog doing motherly things.  She might build a "nest" and rearrange it.  She might bring toys into her "nest" and act like she is suckleing them.  She may get really cozy and lovey with her owner and want to be petted alot.  As she gets toward the last few days, her nipples will get a waxy substance on them and about this time you should start taking her temp.  A dogs normal Tempature is 101.5 and when she is within 24 hours of delivering puppies, her temp will go down to around 98.0.  

I hope this helps you.  If you have other questions for me, please feel free to ask.
Kim