Dog plays with pee and poop

Question
My dog is about 2 years old now. He is a rescued dog. He was in an accident at 4 weeks age. He had a head fracture which has healed. He still has neurological problems and a very small heart. Earlier he couldnt walk see or eat. Now he can walk/run, eat by himself and see quite a bit.
He never learned dog activities like drinking water, going for walks and pee-ing or pooping outside.
Now I have to regularly push water into his mouth with a syringe after having tried all tricks to make him learn. He refuses to go out to pee or poop. He invariably does it in one of the rooms at night and then walks all over it.
1. How do I make him drink water?
2. How can I stop him from dirtying the whole house by walking all over his pee and poop?Please help

Answer
Hi, Moon,

What a sad story for this poor dog!

Let me ask you, how did he learn to eat by himself?  Drinking water is not what I would call a "dog activity" - it is a basic need for survival, just like eating.  What would happen if you didn't push the water into his mouth?  Have you ever tried letting him go to see if he will drink by himself?  If so, how long was it before you finally gave him water?

I don't know what kind of neurological problems he has, but it sounds like he still has the capability to learn.  Why not try crate training with him?  This is something that works with a dog's basic instincts to keep their "den" clean and is a wonderful management tool that can be used throughout the life of the dog.

I'm sending you information that I think is worth trying with him.  If he is "developmentally delayed," you may have success housetraining him the same way you would if he was a puppy.

http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/crate-train.pdf
http://www.hsmo.org/m_obedience/behavior/dogcrate.html

http://www.marinhumanesociety.org/Behavior/Handouts/Housetraining.pdf  

http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/retrain-dog.pdf     
http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/pup-housetrain.pdf