Toilet training 8 month old puppy - help please!

[AshleighP]

I'm looking for some advice on toilet training. I have an 8 month old golden retriever puppy, who I got 5 months ago (she has been spayed). Prior to coming to me she was pad trained and we quickly moved to her going to the toilet outside (gradually moving pads into the garden and praising her etc). We have now trained her to use a bell to ask to go out and she does this pretty consistently when we are in. She will go for a wee and poo on command so we can make sure she has been when we leave her home alone. Generally she is fine and waits until we get home but a few times recently we have found she has been for a wee on her bed when she's been left for about 45 mins, even when she went immediately before we leave her. She does seem to have a preference for going on soft things e.g. Beds and blankets (I guess down to the pad training) but my question is - how do we train her to wait to go when we get back rather than just weeing on her bed when we are out?
She doesn't do well in her crate at home alone so is left in the k**chen with our other dog with a baby gate when we go out. Any help would be much appreciated as we don't like having to worry about leaving her even for a short amount of time! She can go for about 4 hours without needing a wee when I'm home usually - she does tend to wee more in the afternoons though (when I'm home too) which is when she tends to get left
Thanks!

[Nettle]

She may have a degree of incontinence. Have her checked for a urinary infection, too. It is very unusual for a dog deliberately to wet its bed.

[AshleighP]

I have had her checked out and the vet said no physical issues. She is easily able to hold on for 4-5 hours when I'm at home, but it just seems when she is home with no humans (we have another adult dog who stays with her) she just doesn't bother holding on!
She has always been willing to pee in her crate or on her bed - it doesn't seem to bother her at all! In fact when we were first transitioning from puppy pads to outdoors she would seek out her bed rather than go on the floor (I think because of the soft texture maybe?). Anyway obviously crating her won't help with this as she would go in there, plus she really doesn't like to be shut in there for longer than about an hour.

Any tips would be much appreciated! It seems she knows to go outside when we are here so I don't know what changes when we aren't!

[JudyN]

The texture of her bed probably reminds her of her puppy pads so she thinks it's the correct place to go. How have you washed the bedding? If there's any lingering smell of wee it will encourage her to go there even more, so you need to use a biological washing powder/liquid or something specifically sold for cleaning pet wee.

It might be worth checking whether she's anxious when left by rigging up a camera, in case this is a separation anxiety issue rather than a house-training one.

[Nettle]

Definitely go with the camera. The other dog may be bothering her so she is doing appeasement wees, or this-is-my-bed wees. It takes a trained eye to pick up the subtleties of one dog affecting the behaviour of the other, especially when we want them to like each other.