Buy(or make) a coat for the pup and get a bit of straw to put on the ground outside - easier on the puppies feet and holds a scent reminder of where to "go" - think of it as an outdoor pee-pad.

at 8 weeks old you are 2 months from the puppy having any bowel control, repitition is the key to success in housebreaking. Your going to be freezing *your own* arse off about 10 times a day if you try & teach pup to go outside + by the time you get your coat & boots on its to late anyway.

Id get a cheap litter box put it in the most convenient place possible, by a door leading outside to another place to go potty is good.
If you are tether training (tied to a leash instead of in a crate) you can tie the dog close enough to the litterbox that it can get in it to go, it probably won't seeing as its still to young to think, "I gotta pee, go to the box" but putting it in close proximity the dog will eventually start using it.
You need to start marker training asap. teach the mark itself, like "yes" or "good" teaching them to know exactly when they are doing "good" is key key key.
going "dookie" actually helps marker training if done right.
You can use 2 seaparate comands or, I use just 1 at first, then later on when they no longer have mistakes I train each, pee pee & poo poo.
Its basically simple, pick a command word to use for going. put the dog where you want them to go, start saying the command word in a nice tone, say it every 5 seconds or so, NOTHING else, just the 1 word. the instant you see something coming out start praising using the mark & the command eg. "Good dookie". say it the entire time they are going, when they stop, you stop.
IF nothing comes out, no big deal, let them go play, try agin in a few minutes.
with a new new puppy Id do this every 15 - 20 mins, put them in the litter box, say "dookie" every 5 seconds for maybe 1 minute, you can watch them & tell if they need to go.
Lastly, they will make mistakes, possibly for months, DO NOT freak out. If they pee on the carpet it's your fault for letting them on carpet unless your sure they are relieved of pee pee. It takes several weeks sometimes to get a puppy to understand & *remember* the process of going dookie, like humans, by the time a 2 year old thinks "i have to pee" they already have. So dont be harsh on the dog at all, until your sure they understand. Then you can correct for doing it in a wrong place. If you start correcting to soon, your dog will crap all over the place & hope you dont find it. Another thing is NEVER correct them unless you catch them in the act, if you are 10 seconds after theyre done, dont waste your time, it'll just freak the dog out more.
If you teach it right you will be able to tell your dog go pee pee or poo poo, & it will, anywhere / anytime.
1 more thing on the litterbox, instead of all kitty litter try real grass sod. It may help them adapt to going outside later. Keep it clean, after a poop, let the stool dry a bit then pick it up, dogs dont like to go on top of old poop. they will move away & go somewhere else. the cleaner you keep it the more likely they are to reuse that spot.
My 14 week old Rott just got her bowel control, and still makes a mistake now n then. but if I take her outside and say pee pee or poo poo(& she has to go) she will drop n pop almost immediately.
hope this helps get ya started

RC,
I only made it through the first two sentences. That is that most lame thing I've ever heard.

Ya get a dog in the middle of winter then you suck it up. Keep the snow suit ready to step into, have the muck-a-lucks by the door and take the damn dog out.

Just wanted to add that you're not "too late anyway" because you're taking the puppy out all the time -- not just when the puppy indicates distress or starts lifting a leg or squatting. The idea is that the puppy is outside often enough that s/he does not have to go indoors.

And if the puppy is trained right, corrections are not even a part of it. If the dog is going inside, the owner has screwed up. The puppy was inside when s/he needed to be outside, and the puppy was unsupervised. Sure it can happen that a puppy (or new dog) starts to squat or lift a leg, but we hustle that dog outside and then praise for the outside potty.

Letting a bad habit start and then correcting for it, IMO, is bad management of a new puppy or dog-in-training. We can do better.

 Quote: RC Dennis

.... If they pee on the carpet it's your fault for letting them on carpet unless your sure they are relieved of pee .... My 14 week old Rott just got her bowel control, and still makes a mistake now n then. but if I take her outside and say pee pee or poo poo(& she has to go) she will drop n pop ....

Good job.

Please don't take criticism personally -- it's meant only to make the job easier on the folks reading (and their dogs). It's not easy to re-train a dog trained to go indoors, whether it's litter boxes, pee pads, or rescue adults who were not allowed out enough and were basically forced to go in their kennels, etc.

This re-training is not something I'd wish on owners or on dogs. As Melissa pointed out, a tiny puppy with short hair in frigid weather, if there is no porch or breezeway or the like, might make litter boxes or pee pads necessary, but this is really not something to do just because we're freezing our own butts.

JMO!

hmm all i meant was , expect a mistake here or there, but dont set one up, before you let them play in a area youd prefer they not go pee/poo in, make sure they recently relieved themselves. dont set them up for failure. Potty training for indoors is quite easy & alot less stressful than the going outside no matter what the weather, for both you & the pup, it rains in the summer, so indoor house breaking makes sence, especially for the smaller short haired pups.

 Quote: RC Dennis

hmm all i meant was , expect a mistake here or there, but dont set one up, before you let them play in a area youd prefer they not go pee/poo in, make sure they recently relieved themselves. dont set them up for failure. Potty training for indoors is quite easy & alot less stressful than the going outside no matter what the weather, for both you & the pup, it rains in the summer, so indoor house breaking makes sence, especially for the smaller short haired pups.

Phoenix is a short haired dog. It not that cold here but for her to be used to 110 degree summers 30 degrees is freezing for us.

I put a coat on and put her coat on and go out. It rains its only water. And if you have a short haired dog they dry quicker.

To the OP i would suck up the cold buy a coat for your dog and keep your by the back door. As Connie said At this age your not supposed to wait for the puppy to have to go you should be taking them out every 1 1/2 hours 2 at the most. Dog are animals of habit. That's how they learn to go outdoors. And our praising help them get it a little faster.

I had many late night freezing my tail off with foster pups. Its will only last for a short while. But I would not do Puppy pads or litter box training.

Buy the dog a coat. And booty. If you have to take him out one or two times cause you don't time it right without a coat I promise it won't hurt him any.

It would never, ever get too cold for me to willingly allow a dog to pee in my house.

Habits learned in the first couple of months of puppy brain development are critical. It's going to be cold again next winter too...and every winter thereafter for this pup's life. Outdoors is the place for pee and poop no matter where you live. IMO.

I got my new puppy in January 2009 in one of the snowiest and coldest winters we had had in years. I'm in Hamilton, ON

You just have to suck it up and get out there! No other easy answers......better that then puddles and piles in the house.

 Quote: Tracy Collins

It would never, ever get too cold for me to willingly allow a dog to pee in my house.

It's going to be cold again next winter too...and every winter thereafter for this pup's life. Outdoors is the place for pee and poop no matter where you live. IMO.

I completely agree with this - one of the many reasons I don't have a cat!

~Natalya