Moe took forever to housetrain. He was young when I found him - it was estimated that he was seven to nine months old by our vet. We adopted him in July (it was hot and he drank AND peed GALLONS of water :roll: ) and he didn't seem to get the idea about going outside until five or six months later. Even then, he wasn't COMPLETELY trustworthy until he was two years old.
We used a reward system to housebreak him. I used to buy Pupperoni, cut them into one inch pieces, and keep them in a treat jar near the door. Each and every time I took Moe out (always on the leash for training so he wouldn't get distracted) I'd take a treat from the jar with me and, once outside, I'd stand in the driveway and say "Go PEE, Moe, go PEE!" in a high-pitched happy voice until he either went or he didn't. If he went he got the treat and lots of praise (praise the HE** out of them 8) ). If he didn't pee the treat went back in the jar and we tried again fifteen to thirty minutes later. We'd keep doing this until he did pee. Eventually he got the idea in a big way - the treat was a strong motivator. It got so he'd go out, squat and dribble, get his treat, squat and dribble some more, get another treat, and so on. Sometimes he'd squat and PRETEND to pee, then come back to me, tail wagging, looking for his treat. :roll: At least that meant he didn't need to go.

At one point he was SO WELL TRAINED that when we walked him he'd pee whenever we passed a gravel driveway (ours was gravel at the time).
Another thing we needed to learn were his signals. They were so subtle as to be almost non-existent. Eventually I noticed that if he sat near the door he might need to go pee (and he wouldn't sit long - if you blinked you missed it and there'd be a puddle and he'd be gone). I began to be aware of where he was at ALL times (sort of like when you have a tddler in the house). "Where's Moe" was always at the fore-front of my thoughts, partly because of the housetraining thing, and partly because I had two teenage daughters who collected beanie-babies and Moe's mission in life seemed to be to eradicate them from the face of the Earth! :wink: After a while he learned to scratch at the door if I didn't notice him sitting there waiting to go outside (and no matter what I tried I couldn't un-train him from that - as you could see from the condition of my doors if you were to visit us :shock: ).
Have patience and be persistent and you'll get through it... eventually.
Terry