Potty Training 2 of 2: Paper Training

Paper training was the only way I potty trained Beanie as a puppy, and is generally the well accepted alternative to crate training.  There are variants to paper training so this doesn't always mean paper, but the method all essentially involves placing newspaper/pee absorbent material all over where puppy lives, and gradually conditioning the puppy to eliminate on the particular surface of the paper.
This is done by feeding the puppy strategically on one unpapered side of the room only, where the bed is also placed, to encourage the puppy to utilize their instinct to move away from their food/bed to eliminate on the other, papered end away from their bed and food.  The premise of this training is that dogs tend to pick the same spots for future elimination, so gradually develops a surface preferences towards paper/pee pads etc.

The main thing to remember is that transitioning from paper to outside is a secondary process once the puppy has learnt to use the paper.  This is usually done by taking a small piece of paper with you when you go outside, and making that association in the puppy's mind that outside is equivalent to the paper.  Some dogs never need this step and make that association quite readily (the process of moving away from "home ground" generally tends to do the trick) but I guess others do rely on this step especially if they have been home-dogs for some time.

Pros:

• Puppies use in their own time, so you're less on a fixed schedule in having to watch the puppy like a hawk to determine when they need to go.  I still recommend looking for tell-tale circling and sniffing movements to encourage the puppy to go on paper, especially if the area where the puppy lives in is big enough for the puppy to not make it back to the paper in time.
• This is the preferred method for owners who have to work or be away longer hours, as it offers more flexibility in making sure the puppy has means to relieve himself, instead of being forced to wait which is horribly cruel.
• As they become more reliable on the surface/paper, a change in the positioning of the toilet can be effected. If you'd like to progress your puppy to an indoor litter tray, grass in the yard etc. just move a soiled paper to where you want your puppy to go, and the puppy tends to follow. This method was used in Singapore to train their dogs to use an actual squatting loo that was set into the ground. All the owners needed to do was flush when their dogs were done.
• Smell attractant pads and puppy training solutions on newspapers do help in rigging the odds to your favour that puppies eliminate on paper to speed up the process.
• This method is not cruel to dogs, neither requiring them to perform on demand, nor requiring them to hold it until their owners come home. Many dogs end up eliminating more or less on a schedule anyway when they grow older as their digestive systems settle around their feeding times, so this method doesn't prevent you from eventually training your dog to do it outside.
• Allows dogs to be toilet trained indoors permanently, which is convenient for flat dwellers or people who don't have easy, quick access to the outdoors.

Cons:

• Training in this method takes longer, as it relies more on coincidence than sheer willpower. While there are ways to stack the odds in your favour, nothing works 100% all the time.
• The biggest drawback to this method is the fact that puppies tend to shred or play with the newspapers when they are bored (they learn all too quickly that it's fun!), ending up in one very dirty puppy and also a very dirty area.  While there are ways around this (eg. putting the papers in a little tray away from your puppy's reach, redirection etc.) no single method is foolproof and much relies on your puppy already knowing a specific area to use. I have found that puppies from ages 8-10 weeks tend not to know/learn how to play with papers yet. As they become older and more exploratory, they inevitably figure out that newspapers are incredibly fun to shred. So note to self that if this method is chosen, get the preferred zone figured out by the puppy within those 2 weeks!
• I did see one other drawback mentioned on a site that said if you had a habit of reading your newspapers on the floor, your dogs not knowing the difference between today's news and yesterday's news may end up doing their business on a section you haven't read yet. Never happened to me, but the simple solution is to lay your papers out on the coffee table, or read the news online.
• Some people genuinely prefer their dogs never to develop the habit of doing it indoors at all for hygiene purposes.  Developing the paper > outside process can therefore be a longer way to get to the same place.