I have a 6 month old great dane pup. She is cute, walks on a leash and is even potty trained in the house. But at night she is a nightmare. She has been pooping and peeing on herself in her kennel. This is something we have been dealing with since the beginning, and she is not left in her kennel for huge periods. We have 2 older danes and have never had an issue like this before with any dog. She doesn't cry at night to let us know that she needs to go out. At this point I'm considering getting rid of her but can't imagine someone that would want to take this over (but I'm newly pregnant and wasn't expecting to have to deal with this so long term).

We have watched tons of dog whisperer and done research to try to figure out what is wrong but she doesn't seem to have a physical problem during the day. We've tried controlling her food, walking her before bedtime. I am at my wits end and I feel really bad but just can't handle this. If anyone has any ideas to why or what we could do it would be greatly appreciated.

It sounds like it could be separation anxiety.
Does she only do it when you are not there?

Here's some tips from the website I am making for separation anxiety (sorry I have to paste it as the site is not up yet)

Does your dog cry when you leave the room? Urinate only when you leave the house?
These are a few signs that your dog may be suffering from Separation Anxiety.

Some dogs do not like being left alone and some will think you are leaving them permanently and not coming back. Here are a few tips to help fix this problem.

When you leave, no matter how long for always have fresh water available. Toys are also a wonderful training tool as it will keep the dog distracted, I use kong toys stuffed with yummy food as a cure for boredom, having special toys or treats that the dog gets only when you go out are also a wonderful idea.

When training my own dogs for separation anxiety I first distract my dogs with their favourite toy and then exit my house through the front door.
I only leave for a minute or two, just long enough so that the dog does not bark or cry.
I then re-enter the house and give them praise for not crying.

Next time I go out I leave for a few more minutes, again only entering the house if the dog is not crying and giving praise.

Increase the amount of time you leave for and always come back before the dog starts crying (you will learn how long that threshold is pretty quickly)

This teaches the dog that you are going to come back and they are not being left alone forever.


Another technique is to not "baby" the dog.
Some dogs become overly attached to their owner and don't even like their owner being out of their line of sight, in this case the training needs to begin before you start going out

Start paying less attention to the dog, when he pushes for attention, don't give it to him
If he wants to be petted, make him wait.
As harsh as it sounds it is the only way to get the dog to start becoming less dependent on you.

After you have trained the dog to be less clingy you can move onto things like leaving the dog in the living room while you have a shower, or leaving him inside while you are out hanging up washing on the clothesline.

We aren't even gone, just gone to sleep. My husband is a disabled vet so the dogs are rarely left at home alone for overly long periods. Our dogs are extremely spoiled when it comes to separation but my biggest worry is that she won't whine when she needs to go out so I don't know where to start.

You will just have to take her out a lot.
Every few hours and give her lots of praise when she goes to the toilet outside.

Sorry, I originally read your question wrong, I did not realise it was during the night.

A 6 month old should be able to hold it in all night but my biggest suggestion would be to restrict water for an hour before she goes to bed and make sure she goes to the toilet right before she goes in her kennel.
The pooping unfortunately is just something that is going to come with time, try to take her for a short walk if you can or stay with her in the yard for half an hour before bed time.

How large is her crate? If it is too big she will go in it. Most crates come with a divider which allows you to buy a crate for the adult size while limiting the space depending on size.

Our crate has a divider and we have sized it with her and now the divider has been taken out because she has grown into it.