What am I missing (dog training content)

So, we got a puppy 2 weeks ago. We are trying to house-break him (he's a 12 week old Brittany if that means anything to you). We (try to) watch him like a hawk and take him out side shortly after he drinks or eats. He pees most times. We praise him for peeing or pooping. No food, just praise.
What I don't know is the piece of the puzzle that gets him to alert us to his need to take a wizz. He has yet to drop a deuce inside, but he peed twice in the last 2 hours (in the house, plus a few outside).
He seems to be pretty smart, and the breed is known for wanting to please their 'owners', so I know the missing piece of the puzzle is us.
What worked for you?

I'm no expert but we just went through this with ours.

Are you taking pup outside to his potty spot after he has an accident?

Also for the first few weeks we made a habit of taking our puppy out to pee every hour and/or immediately after she woke up from a nap.

It took longer than 2 weeks before she would consistently tell us she had to go outside to pee.

We had bells hanging next to the door. Every time I would bring the dog out, I would say "Ring your bells", I would ring them, and then take her out. Then start encourage the dog to use her nose to ring them. You must do it every time you go out. Always use the same door. Then when you say "Ring your bells" the dog goes to the door. Eventually the dog will get the idea and ring them when he needs to go out.

Woody wrote: We had bells hanging next to the door. Every time I would bring the dog out, I would say "Ring your bells", I would ring them, and then take her out. Then start encourage the dog to use her nose to ring them. You must do it every time you go out. Always use the same door. Then when you say "Ring your bells" the dog goes to the door. Eventually the dog will get the idea and ring them when he needs to go out.

We started that with a dog we had, sadly only 48 hours, 2 years ago. I think he started to get it that short time. We are going to buy some tomorrow.
That is my next plan, thanks for the reinforcement.

The bells is a good method. Don't let him get the idea that ringing the bells means going outside for whatever he wants, like playtime, though; only for taking care of business.

We tried the bells. She's smart enough to know if she stands by the door we'll come over and eventually ring it. She only does it if we're in the other room

I did the bells for my dog and they worked great for the exact problem you are describing. He did eventually figure out that he could abuse them to go out anytime he wanted, but we were over the house breaking hump at that point anyways so I just took them down. Good luck!

You need to actually REWARD good behavior with a treat. "Praising" a dog doesn't mean E36 M3 to them. They just think you're barking in a weird voice.

Start by taking a treat outside with you and giving it to the puppers as soon as she finishes peeing. Do this every time she successfully eliminates outside.

Also make sure to always go out the same door to get outside. Eventually, the dog will learn that when she has to go to the bathroom, to head to that door, wait to be let outside, and then she gets a yummy treat after she pees.

The bells didn't work for my dog, because 1) she thought it was a toy, and 2) she figured out ringing it meant she got to go outside and play, even if she didn't actually have to pee.

My method has ended up training my dog to go the front door and bark once to tell us she has to go potty.

My dog has taught herself to sit down at your feet and whine. If you say bathroom she will bark once if she needs to go out. We started it by just taking her out after naps and eating. Always using the same door and telling her bathroom when we went out. She gets a treat for poops only now.

I wish someone would give me a treat every time I E36 M3. Usually, Mrs. T.J. asks me to light a match or keep the fan running. Dogs have it pretty good for the most part.

The most effective form of behavior enforcement is positive reinforcement (praise/treat activities you want to see) given randomly (ie - not everytime when the behavior happens).

When it is always done, it becomes expected, and then the behavior ceases to happen when the reward goes away. Like paying your kids to mow the lawn.

When it is negative feedback (discipline bad behavior), it works too, but not nearly as well.