Peeing in Crate at 1 years old

Question
Hi there!  I have a question about our 1 year old English Springer Spaniel.  His name is Dallas and he was 1 years old in November 07.  We have been trying to deal with the issue of him peeing in his crate in the morning.  In the last 1 1/2 weeks he has peed 3 times in the morning.  Prior to that he hasn't peed in there for about 3 months.  There is a little difference here though.  I've noticed before when he peed he would empty his whole bladder out.  The last 3 times in the past 1 1/2 weeks I've noticed he has only peed a little bit and then once we let him out (around 6am) he will then finish emptying his bladder outside.  I love him so much and I know I have more patients than my husband so I'm trying to get this figured out ASAP.  I also want to let you know we have 2 other dogs.  One English Springer who is 10 years old and one Brittany Spaniel who is going to be 2 years old in March.  Maddie (the Springer) and Lexi (the Brittany) have no problems with potty training.  They know to go outside.  We also have Maddie and Lexi's crates in different parts of the house.  Our vet told us a while back to seperate the dogs.  We don't keep any blankets or beds in Dallas' kennel.  We only keep one toy in there and we swap that toy out daily with other toys so he doesn't get bored w/the same toy.  Please let me know if you have any helpful hints for me.  I'm looking for anything now.

Answer
Hmmmmm, it could be related to age (perhaps he's marking?), or he may be getting a bladder or urinary tract infection, or he may have stones. I would have the vet do a simple urinalysis to rule those out.

What I would do would be to set my alarm a little bit earlier than usual, and see if I could get him outside >>before<< he pottied in his crate, being sure to praise praise praise him for going potty outside. That will also give you an idea about when he's doing it (whether it's actually in the mornings, or sometime during the night). If he's doing it during the night, then I would say to keep him from drinking water for at least 2 hours before bedtime, and be SURE he pees before you put him up for the night. If you already do this, then try getting up sometime during the night to take him out. When you take him out, don't speak to him, pet him, or anything. Make it as boring as possible, or you could create a dog that whines to be let out in the middle of the night, only because he wants to play with mommy! Do that for a while, and then see if he can go all night again. At his age, he should be able to.