litter training puppies??

I would think its possible but can't understand why you want to do this, I don't think it would be good for the dog or for your house. Dogs can be trained to use a specific area of the garden so cleaning is easier.
Please think carefully about it before you get a dog.

I have never had a dog trained to "go indoors" as my much loved cat does even though he is in and out of the house all day long,a dog will surely go outside as part of his/her daily routine when walked as a dog cannot be expected to stay indoors all day, walks are part and partial of their everyday life surely when they would then be expected to perform their toilet needs.

I don't mean in any way that the dog would be expected to stay indoors of course!!!! I was actually thinking, what if he/she is 'caught short', or not able to go out because of illness. After all the same arguments apply to cats too (I'm from generations of cat lovers), they don't actually need to go indoors on a regular basis. Maybe it's all just convention?

When our dogs became elderly, and couldn't perhaps hold on all night, we found strategically placed newspaper was the answer.

The same applies to younger dogs too, is this what you meant?

Yes, more I'm interested in why the approach with cats and dogs is different, after all with a cat flap - or a dog flap - they could both be treated the same

Though the garden would have to be secure for a puppy/dog to have a dog flap. Just musing..

If you look on YouTube you will find many videos on training puppies to use a litter tray indoors. It seems to be popular in the USA for small dogs..

I'd never try to train a puppy to use anything as a toilet indoors. Dogs do not like to dirty where they live and how confusing it must be for them if they can toilet indoors in some places but not others.
Toilet training puppies isn't difficult but needs patience and consistency. You'll need to take the pup into the garden where you want it to toilet on the hour, within 5 or 10 minutes of it eating or waking and give lavish praise when it toilets in the required place. Don't use the word you want it to associate with toiletting until the pup has done so, otherwise you're just training the pup to ignore your requests to 'get busy' or ' be clean' etc.
If you're having any doubts about getting a puppy, don't do it. Read up on crate training. Many people see crates as prisons, not so, they can be a boon in so many ways, particularly in toilet training.

You can buy the equivalent of a litter tray for dogs...they are called 'puppy pads'.
Really though, having a dog means going out in all weathers not just for 'toilet needs' but for exercise. It's not fair to get one if you're not prepared to do so.

I'd never litter train a dog. When they're older they will usually ask to go out, restless, sitting by the door, whining, is usually a signal.
We have a lively three year old cocker and the first year was exhausting, but well well worth it as she is now such a lovely affectionate, clean obedient little girl. We found a crate a god send as it did mean that we could put her in there to calm down and give us some peace. It is now her bedroom and she still uses it in the day as well as sleeping in it at night. Of course we are welcome in friends and family's homes to stay as the crate always comes with us!

NigglyN you reminded me of when we had a toy poodle puppy. We trained him to go outside by moving the paper towards the back door. We didn't have a puppy crate, instead we used an old playpen. ??

Hattie had a cat/dog pen and it used to have newspaper down. Of course, it meant that she looked on any newspaper on the floor as her own personal toilet. If we go out for a long time we put newspaper on the floor by the back door and she goes on that. The cat/dog pen has a hole in the wall for her to go in and out of but,for some reason [it may have been the corn that she had] she started to struggle with getting back into the house and it scared us that she might go out, one day, and not get back in. So the cat/dog pen is now out of bounds [but she still has 'her' half of the garden]. The worst dog I ever had, toilet training wise, was a spaniel that had been born in my kitchen, Because she'd wee'd and poo'd in the kitchen as tiny puppy she carried on doing it as she got older. Had she moved to another home that wouldn't have happened. It's very easy to confuse their brains when it comes to toilet training, I think.

I agree Tegan, that's why I think it's important to start as you mean to go on, with crates, car harness,/crate, toilet training, on or off beds?!! chairs etc!! bathing, grooming, etc.
Our little girl has all these things ingrained and it would be difficult to change her mind!! It is hard work though!
I remember using newspaper when one of our previous dogs was poorly with kidney failure. She was very old, consistently weed' and just couldn't make it outside. Poor little girl inevitably had to be pts.

'constantly' grrr!