It is not stubbornness. It is math.

Every indoor accident teaches your puppy the wrong bathroom. Every outdoor pee you actually reward teaches the right one. If they are still going on the rug, the indoor reps are winning.

Three things that usually flip it in the first week:

1. You are waiting for them to "tell you"

Most puppies do not have a reliable signal yet. They squat, then you notice. Take them out on a clock — after meals, after naps, after play, and every 20–30 minutes while they are awake for the first days. Boring. Effective.

2. You are punishing puddles you found later

They cannot connect a scolding to a pee from ten minutes ago. They just learn that you are scary when urine is on the floor, so they start hiding it. Hidden pees are how house training dies. Interrupt only if you catch them in the act, then go straight outside. Clean the rest with enzyme cleaner and move on.

3. The house is too big

A puppy with three rooms and a hallway is running a search pattern for a bathroom. Gate one room. Crate when you cannot watch. Add space after the pattern exists, not before.

If you log time + what happened right before each accident for three days, the pattern almost always shows up: after play, after water, or you waited 50 minutes. Shorten that window. Do not get louder.

The crate is not mean. Unsupervised freedom before they are clean is how you pay for carpet cleaning.