Dog going into crate specifically to pee

Question
My husband and I adopted a boxer a couple of months ago, and he is now almost one year old.  He can easily make it through the night with bedding, 8-10 hours, without going to the bathroom and usually during the day when we are home.  We have been putting him in his crate when we are not home without bedding, because he was peeing on that.  But after a month, he continues to pee in his crate during the day.  When we were home the other day, he even went upstairs to his crate to specifically pee.  I'm not really sure what to do about it.  We try to make the crate seem more like a den, we even feed him in it.  What should we do?

Answer
I think maybe you need to find some other way of confining him when you can't watch him. It appears he is misunderstanding what the crate is for. It might help to get a new crate (of a different kind - if you currently have the plastic one, maybe a wire?) You may also want to get him checked by your vet to make sure he doesn't have a urinary tract infection. That can cause the dog to break patterns. But it does sound like he's got the mistaken idea of what the  crate is for. Sandy Case BFA, MEd CPDT www.positivelycanine.com