[Gracie2006]

I read somewhere where up to I think 6 months, a puppy can hold his bladder as many hours as he is months old. If that is true, then you might be expecting too much. Most puppies don't like to soil their den. Have you considered putting his crate in a utility room or bathroom that you can fence off with a baby gate, or put the crate in an ex-pen? With either set up, you can leave the crate door open and set up an area outside of the crate with a pee pad where baby can go if he can't make it until time to go outside. I know when Gracie was 8-12 weeks old, she would wake me every 3 hours at night to take her to her pee pad. She is now 4 months old and wakes me about every 4 hours to use her pee pad. Last night, she held the poo all night until 5:30 am which is our usual wake-up time.