I am not going to preach about the dos and don'ts of purchasing a pup, as you will already have wrestled with your conscience about that for yourself. What I am going to do is help you train your pup in what can be a sticky subject for most new owners.

Toilet Training.
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Your first port of call should be to refer to the guidelines set out for you by the breeder, but if for some reason you don't have these then I will go through it step by step.

Before You Bring Home Baby
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Before you bring home your pup set up its sleeping place. This should be a hard floor and the kitchen is ideal. Never let your pup into your bedroom as it's a hard habit to break and is just as bad for the pup as it is for you.
Get a cardboard box. They are free at most supermarkets. They are warm and they can be used to teethe on.
Set it up in a place that is permanent. Don't move it! Remember your pup will get used to the spot.
Surround the bed with newspapers. You will need loads of these. I usually advise prospective owners to start collecting them up to 2 weeks prior to getting your pup. Extend them all over the floor.

Bringing Home Baby
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Take your pup to its new bed and with a lot of encouragement place your pup in it. With any luck your pup should be used to a nice warm cardboard box because the breeder will already have used something similar.
Your pup will spend a lot of time sleeping. NEVER disturb your pup; you will just have to wait until it wakes to cuddle and play with it.

Toilet Training. Phase One
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Firstly let me say that you are going to have to have a lot of patience. If there are any accidents then it is YOUR FAULT not your pups.
Usually pups wee and poo (Technical terminology). When they wake up or after they eat or when they are excited from play…which is most of the time, so you have to be vigilant.
The paper you have put down will become your pup's toilet. Your breeder will have already introduced your pup to newspaper toilet training but if they haven't it really is easy.
When your pup wakes make sure that he doesn't leave the 'paper area' until he has performed a wee. He will do this but you may have to wait a while.
As soon as your pup starts to perform repeat a word over and over to it. I use 'wee wee'.
Don't say its name! Just the word repeated until they stop and then lots and lots of praise.
For poo I use 'Hurry up'.
Once you have established a routine you can then start to train your pup to do its toilet where you want it to do it.

Toilet Training. Phase Two
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You will find after a short time that your pup will only be using certain spots in the kitchen to do its toilet. Usually three or four places.
At this point you can start to move the outer edges of the papers in towards the 'toilet points'. You will find that after a short while you will have three or four pieces of newspaper on the floor. You must always remember to put the paper back in exactly the same places so as not to confuse your pup.
Once this has been established you will be able to move these pieces of paper very slightly in towards each other.
Eventually you will be able to take away a couple of pieces of the paper provided that your pup has taken to performing on them and nowhere else.
At this point I feel it only fair to mention there will be accidents but, as I have said previously, it will do you no good at all trying to chastise your pup as they will not understand. Just clean it up and chalk it up to experience.
Once you have your pup down to one piece of paper you can then start to move this towards an outside door. It is your aim to have your pup go to that outside or back door when it wants to do its toilet.

Toilet Training. Phase Three
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I am not going to set a time limit on this training because every breed of dog is different, just like every owner is different, and I am a great believer in the fact that the more time you put in then the greater the rewards. You may find your pup is trained in one week, or it may take up to a month, but you will get there.
Once your pup is fully vaccinated and your vet has given you the 'all clear' that your pup can go outside it is time to complete phase three.
At this point, after you have introduced your pup to the outside world, you move the paper outside. Always leave a piece in the usual place until you can coax your pup that you want them to perform out of doors.
This is where the voice command comes in. If you have used your repeated chosen word every time you have seen your pup perform then this is the time to use it. Don't be disheartened if your pup just runs around ignoring you. I promise it will work but only when you pup is calm.
The same still applies as to when your pup wants to perform on waking etc. but hopefully you will have learned the signs. It may be that you do not have a 'lassie type pup' who runs up to tell you 'Robbie's down a mine shaft' but, if you have been observant, you will, hopefully, have spotted the tell tale signs that say. Let me out!

Problems
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Sometimes problems occur. It's not your fault and it's not your pup's fault. No one is infallible. If something goes wrong and you start to get accidents, don't be upset, just go back to phase one and start again. You will be amazed how going back to basics really does work and I can assure you it's quicker the second time. Sometimes we just need our memories jogged.

I hope this has been helpful to you and I have to say that I know this has worked on older dogs so give it a try.
I have never believed in the saying 'You can't teach an old dog new tricks'.
Just look at me!

This is only one tiny part of training a dog but one of the most important. Get this one right and you are off to a wonderful start...Good Luck.