urinating in crate

Question
Our basset hound is one year old.  We got him as a puppy and have had no
luck crate training him.  I am a stay at home mom and I am always home.  
Still he urinates in his crate.  I let him out every 2-3 hours and he still has
accidents.  The breeder we got him from had the puppies in a cage with a
wire flooring so he urinated in his cage.  Is it possible this is why we are
having difficulties or is it us?  He urinates in his crate daily sometimes more
than once.  He will even go when I am standing right there getting ready to
let him out.  We are at our breaking point.  If we can't stop this soon we will
have to find him a new home.  This is the last thing we want to do.  He is a
wonderful dog!

Answer
Hi Tracy,

How often is he crated?  I'm curious as you said you're a stay at home mom.

To answer your question, yes.  Puppies are born with a natural instinct to keep their den clean.  When they are kept in a crate and allowed to toilet in it, that instinct is damaged and/or lost.  It's why pet store puppies are often so hard to house train.

I would suggest you go back to the basics with him.  You've waited a very long time to seek help for your problem so it's going to take equally as long to break his habit.  View him as an untrained puppy and start over.

His crate should only be large enough for him to stand, turn and lie down comfortably.  He should not have so much room that he can toilet in one corner and lay in another.  If there is bedding in the crate, remove it...it only serves to soak up urine.

I would also suggest a trip to the vet to make sure that he's got no kidney and/or bladder issues.