I've never "potty trained" any dog and the dog I have now was 10 years old when I got him. He was always outside and lived in a kennel 90% of the time. In my opinion, the absolute worst you can run in to as far as "potty habits". If there is a way to ruin a dog for that, that is it.
Dogs normally don't want to walk, eat, and sleep in feces. Their own nor any one else's. That is just natural. Penning them up or tied up all the time and you are just giving them no other choice, you are training them to crap and urinate where ever they happen to be standing because after just a few days that is the only choice they have.
Yet after just 3 or 4 weeks here, he was going out in the woods or other head high or more weeds to do his business all the time far as I could tell. Because I made it my mission and I had the time, retired, to concentrate on his making the switch in loyalty and dependence from his prior owner to me. Walking him MANY times a day, on a leash at first around the perimeter property lines. By making a point to check all his "access" areas where I didn't want him defecating. He was off his tie up rope in just a week or less. But find the poop right away. He has to poop SOMEWHERE, just not here. None of that nose rubbing, scolding, beating, NOTHING EVEN close. Even a coarse word was enough to hurt his feeling at this time in the transition. Just find the poop, grumble about it to your self, totally ignore the dog while you are doing this chore like he doesn't exist. Toss the poop where you WANT him to go. Walk back to the house and store the shovel where ever you are going to keep a poop shovel. Walk to the house door and call the dog and start your day over fresh.
Good dog, great, glad to see you too. Just don't poop there any more ok, ok. Let's walk the line.
I've had him a year now and it got down to the twenties last night, the yotes were howling with in a couple hundred yards of the house, both things that contribute to a long sleepless night with a dog outside on the porch or even in their own house. Now we been practicing "lay on the rug" a few hours at a time for a year now so it's not like just jumping up and expecting it all at once. But I let him in. Told him lay on the rug, "at the back door". He never got off that rug in 10 hours when I finished eating breakfast the next morning. He would stand up, turn around, lay down, but he never stepped off that run once.
We did this a couple weeks ago when the yotes were tearing up the neighborhood and he made it about 5 hours or so before he had to go out for something. I never watched, I just let him out and he never complained so I assume the yotes were gone and he went to his own house. We have hard wood floors and I just lay down on the couch to sleep and keep an eye on him until I really trust him. It don't take anything for me to hear his tags jingle, I KNOW If he stands up and then his nails click on the hardwood so I knew just as soon as he took a step or two to move off the rug and, I let him out.
He poops where he smells poop. If you watch, just about every dog will do it before they go, they will search for where everyone else goes or where they have been going. You show him where he is suppose to go by throwing his dropping over in the weeds where you want it. All I've done to show him where I don't want it, is show him where I DO WANT it.
Riding in the truck, I go to town for lunch about 5 days a week and he always goes in the truck bed. But he knows when I come back out, he gets a snack, a chance to relieve himself. Sometimes he needs to, sometimes not but he never makes a problem waiting. Most times it is and hour - hour and a half by the time I order, the wife shows up, we eat, she leaves and I finish the news paper.