4mo old Keeshond - separation anxiety?

Question
Our puppy and yes I know he is still a puppy is crated when we are away from home.  He holds it all night - surprisingly from 9:30pm to 6:30am - for some reason he poops at least once during the day in his crate.  He is let out typically every 3-4 hours. We walk him around every morning - he poops twice in the morning - he doesn't seem to mind his crate - you don't hear a peep out of him at night - but that could be because we are in bed and his crate is in our room.  He willingly goes in his crate when we leave - sometimes he barks - not all the time - but when we get back even after 2 hours he pooped and smashed it everywhere.  Not sure what to do - separation anxiety or just puppy?

Answer
I am going to guess it is "just puppy" as when they gotta go, they gotta go. You may not be totally in sync with him yet as to his schedule. Some people make a journal of their puppy's elimination habits so that they have a better clue as to when they need to potty, and you might find this helpful.

This could be separation anxiety, but it really doesn't sound like it to me. Most of those dogs don't want to go into a crate, and certainly not willingly. You could try moving his crate out of your bedroom (but not too far away as you want to hear if he needs to go out during the night), and see if that changes his behavior. If it does, you will know that it is indeed SA.

Here are a couple sites on what to do with separation anxiety:
http://www.2ndchance.info/sepanxiety.htm
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_separation_anxiety.html

Also have his stools checked to be sure that he is parasite-free. Parasites can sometimes screw up elimination times, as some may feel a need to go more frequently.