We don t care what someone else may tell you or what you read, if you find a mess that was left when you weren t there, clean it up and forget it. Discipline won t help because unless you catch the puppy in the act, it will have no idea what the scolding is for. Your puppy has urinated and defecated hundreds of times before it met you. Mom or the breeder always cleaned it up. Nobody made a fuss before and they will not put the punishment, regardless of its form, together with something they ve done without incident numerous times before.
Puppies are just like our children.
They re thinking about what they can do in the future. At this point in their life a puppy s memory is very, very poor. Anyway, let s face it. It was your fault not the pup's. If you had been watching, you would have noticed the puppy suddenly walking or running around in circles with his nose down smelling for the perfect spot to go to the bathroom.