Toilet training for new puppy

Question
I usually play with my maltese puppy in the kitchen, and i keep her in the crate during the day when i am not around and at night. When kept in the crate, she knows where to pee and poo. However, once she comes out to play, she seldom pee/poo until we put her back into the crate. On several occasions, she even went out to the living room and poo.
How do we teach her to go back to her own crate to pee/poo? Why would she poo in the living room when she has never done that before (i.e. no smell)?

Answer
Shannon-

I'm curious why you are teaching her to go back to her crate to pee/poop? that's the opposite of crate training, since the idea of crate training is to teach them NOT to go in their crate, and then use the "den" idea (Since they will not defile their sleeping den, the crate becomes their den and then the house as it expands) to expand that to the entire house.

If you are trying to teach her to go to the bathroom in one place, why not try a litter box? You can train dogs to use a litter box, and keep litterboxes in rooms where she plays, but it is notoriously difficult to teach a dog that pooping INSIDE the house is ok in some places, but not in others. Here is a link for litter training: http://www.kturby.com/litter/litter.htm

Good luck!