Your advice please on housetraining

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Archie is 11 months old and joined us back in Jan, he came from a large family of cockers and was crated at night where he messed his crate 
Since then I have gone back to the puppy training stage. He is walked in the morning,lunchtime and evening all off lead. He has been following the same toileting training all my others have had. They are all fab
During most of the day my conservatory door is open for him to go in and out as he pleases, this works well  no accidents at all.
 My problem is he messes every night even though he is fed at 4.30pm and walked. Last night I got up at 3am and let him out, then got up again at 6am and yes he had been naughty.
He will also mess and wee when I go out even when its just an hour  it seems as soon as the door is closed he performs.
I would love any advice as I am at a loss, never had this in 27 yrs of dog potty training.
Thanks Jo  x

[fifer]

Is he crated at night?

[belle-y-button]

Hi

I'm no expert at all but a friend advised me(!) that the crate should only be big enough for the dog and its bed with no 'paper' area. Dogs normally do not like to soil their beds and so will hold on until they are out of the crate. Worked a treat for us.

[Cob-Web]

I'm no expert at all but a friend advised me(!) that the crate should only be big enough for the dog and its bed with no 'paper' area. Dogs normally do not like to soil their beds and so will hold on until they are out of the crate. Worked a treat for us.

This works unless the dog is left with no choice (if they are crated for too long, for instance) which may have been the case in Alfies previous home?

Once they have got into the habit of messing in their crate, then it can be a difficult habit to break - and it sounds as if it may be complicated by a form of separation anxiety......

If he has been given a clean bill of health by a vet and there is no medical reason why he is messing, then perhaps you would both benefit from a one-to-one with a behaviourist? Although it is frustrating, he really isn't being naughty - he just doesn't know the difference 

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Is he crated at night?

When he first arrived we used a crate but he messed in it so we ended up bathing him every accident. The man I got him from said he always went to the toilet in his crate  which he shared with another cocker. 
So we took the crate away he now sleep in a large conservatory. He has been to the vet and he's all fine  He is perfect apart from this, as good as gold 

[KatieJean]

My friend had this with a german shepherd puppy. I was as soon as he was shut in for any reason. I felt it was anxiety and she has not mentioned it still happening so it must have stopped. He is now 7 months. It once took one of our cockers 7 months to be clean at night and she was about 3 months or so when we got her so I think just give him a bit more time. Frustating I know.
Good luck.

[SimonandMandy]

Could it be some sort of night anxiety?  Harvey absolutely refuses night time toilet and no amount of training helped with this.  He will however wake us between 6 and 7 normally in the morning and as soon as he had done his business he then will go back to bed.  Can you pop him in with you for a few nights to see if he tells you he needs to go?

[bluegirl]

Penny took quite a while to toilet train, she would be fine in day and go during the night. Her last feed originally was about 8pm but we brought it forward to 4pm and it did work for her. Maybe if he has his tea early already you could consider changing it to later to see if this helps. Also found with Penny that I had to stand out with her persuading her to go or she'd just go out and come back in again and then mess later in the night.
Reading your post however it does seem to be that he associates crating with eliminating. Not sure how this could be broken unless you tried him without the crate for a night or two. Guess ultimately he'll get there but I understand how frustrating it can be when it's night after night and no progress.