Mark,

You need to take her out in the night, and if you cannot get home earlier for your lunch try to arrange for someone to come let her out.

The basic guidelines for puppies and bladder control is one hour per month of age. So a 2 month old puppy can only hold its bladder for a maximum of 2 hours, and a 3 month old puppy can only hold it for 3 hours maximum.

You don't need to know exactly when she is peeing, all you need to know is whether or not she has peed yet, that will determine how long between potty breaks. Has not peed yet - great! take her out! If she has peed you know you need to get to her earlier.

I take puppies under 3 months old out three times in the night, an hour and a half after I went to bed, then 2 hours after that, and 2.5 hours after that, after the last water being given 6 hours before bed time.

Having a command for potty is GREAT and helps a pup to focus on the task at hand. I have found that having a word associated with potty time is a huge step in a puppy fully relieving itself. Puppies can get distracted very easily, even from peeing or pooing. Something fast moving or bright or smelly or just the joy of being outside is distracting and a pup can wind up not fully voiding its bladder. Having a word reminder and rewarding for good potty is extremely helpful. A puppy that knows it gets a reward for peeing will try its best to pee, just as a puppy taught to sit for a treat will try its best to sit for you.

How have you been rewarding for potty outside so far? One problem I see often is when rewarding a potty time the reward is given too early and can be what distracts the puppy from going. If you get them riled up before they go or before they are done they cut themselves short or if they don't have a strong urge to go will just not go.

Wow! Thanks to everyone for the quick and informative responses. I am taking Emmy to the vet tomorrow to see if she may have a urinary tract infection, just to at least rule that out. If that does not work then I am going to have to spend many sleepless nights teaching her to go outside :-( The weird thing is her brother, had a lot of accidents at first too but he is doing really well now. Hopefully, she learns soon to go outside. They both used to pee when they were sleeping. I don't know if Emmy is still doing that. Is urination while sleeping really bad?

 Quote: Mark Langr

Wow! Thanks to everyone for the quick and informative responses. I am taking Emmy to the vet tomorrow to see if she may have a urinary tract infection, just to at least rule that out. If that does not work then I am going to have to spend many sleepless nights teaching her to go outside :-( The weird thing is her brother, had a lot of accidents at first too but he is doing really well now. Hopefully, she learns soon to go outside. They both used to pee when they were sleeping. I don't know if Emmy is still doing that. Is urination while sleeping really bad?

I almost asked twice about UTI, but the O.P. mentioned that you had seen the vet with her.... I should never assume.

If she is clear of that, then consistency, avoiding the situation where that indoor potty habit is reinforced, and ample praise/rewards for outdoor potty will work.

And I betcha that it won't be many sleepless nights.

I took Emmy to the animal hospital and the vet prescribed antibiotics for a urinary tract infection. She also advised me on how much water intake a dog of her size really needs. Unfortunately, she still urinates in the crate. I have seen an improvement since I started her on the antibiotics though. I think limiting her water intake helped severly. I am taking her out twice in the middle of the night which worked last night. Today, I let her out at 7:30 before I left for work. I decided I would take lunch at 10 AM instead of going at 11:45 AM. Well, she had an accident before I made it home. Maybe I could start giving her meal and water sooner than I currently am. Right now I give her water and her meal at 6 AM, maybe I could give it to her at 5 AM. What should I do?

When did the RX start? It doesn't fully cure a UTI immediately. It takes a few days (and of course, you must finish the RX).

Limiting water with a UTI (and concentrating the urine) sounds iffy to me. I'd be careful to allow the amount the vet advised and no less.

Adjusting the meal and water times is fine, though.

Poor dog. A UTI is so uncomfortable. I'm so glad you checked her.

I began giving the prescription that night, per the vet's recommendation. So, that would be Saturday evening. I have been keeping up on the antibiotics since Saturday and I will continue all the way until I am out.

The vet said a puppy her size would be okay with about a liter a day. I end up giving her a little more sometimes to mix with her food. If she was outside I would definately let her have more.

She peed three times in the vet's office that day. On Sunday, about an hour or two after her meal w/ antiobiotics, she was whining a lot. I think the medication may have upset her stomach that day. I know she had to be suffering. Hopefully, this makes her feel better and clears up the issue. So, I guess I should wait a little longer to see where the bunny rabbit hole leads?

Saturday night..... yes, I'd guess you'd see some effect by last night.

What antibiotic is it? (I am asking which one before mentioning giving probiotics in the form of unflavored unsweetened live-culture yogurt both during and after the RX protocol, because some antibiotics aren't to be given with dairy.)

I want to suggest (strongly) that another urinalysis is done after the RX regimen to make sure the UTI is gone.

The antibiotic is clavamox.

I don't feel like I am having much luck. I thought things were getting a tad better but she persists to go pee in her crate. I let her out this morning when I woke up and discovered she had went during the night. I let her out twenty minutes after she had her meal. Then a hour later she whined then went in her crate. I don't recall her giving me a signal to go outside but maybe whining will be her way. I am just so accustomed to her whining when she does not want to be in her crate.

Soon, it will be two months on July 21st since I got her and she still persists this awful habit. Do you think this is something she will outgrow?

I think she will outgrow it, just make sure you take her out as often as you can.
I have had pups do the same thing and I just keep cleaning the crate and letting them out often and one day they just stop peeing in the crate. Hang in there.
I use newspapers in the crate so I don't have to constantly wash bedding. I picked up a bag full of plastic grocery bags at the store recycling bin so I can keep the pee papers from stinking up the trash.
July 21st is still 3 weeks away, so it has not been two months it's only been 5 weeks, try to focus on the positive.
If she whined before she peed I think you better start listening for it. What signal has she given you in the past?

Thank you for the encouragement. I really have not noticed a warning before because everytime she peed in her crate I was either at work or sound asleep. Maybe I should devote a day over the weekend to spending time near the crate all day to see if I can better distinguish when she wants to go out. Sometimes I think she is whining because she wants to play. If I catch her going in the crate, should I correct her as if she was going in the house? I recall Ed saying in his video that you are supposed to make a loud noise or startle the puppy so it stops and you tell it no and take it right outside then praise it.