Aged dog peeing in crate

[Sophie83]

I am going insane!

My 12-yr old yorkie is peeing in bed/blanket in her crate every night!  The crate is left open at night, so I don't think that is the issue, but she is not even asking to go out.  I let her out once or twice through the night, just to be mindful of her, but she still does every night.

I don't see how it is separation anxiety, since I am working from home during Covid.  I did start a weekend job and she is locked in the crate then.  She has accidents on the weekend, but that I can understand.  I have taken her to the vet and she is healthy - no UTI, no stones, no kidney issues, no diabetes.  

I am at a loss.  Any suggestions?

[Kathryn]

I am at a loss too.  Is there any chance you trained her to use peepads? (I am from Minnesota, and some folks with small dogs do train them to use peepads in the winter.) Perhaps she thinks the blanket is a peepad?

Does she pee in the crate when she is in there on the weekend, or is it only during the night?

[bradl]

I think Kathryn's on to something.

When we used to travel with our dogs in an RV and the dogs slept in crates  at night one of them would reliably pee on a towel if there was one in the crate. No towel and she'd ask to go out. On the flip side, if the situation was such that getting up at night to walk the dog(s) might be problematic we'd put a towel in there for her. 

In the interest of science I might try a few nights with nothing in the crate at all — bare floor — to see if there is any correlation or if it adds any information to your troubleshooting.

[pkcrossley]

any chance this is happening while she is asleep?