I have read through the numerous posts about toilet training before getting the pup and right upto date. However I have a few specific issues and would be grateful for your opinions.
I obtained a giant schnauzer puppy at 8 weeks and he is now 5 1/2 months old.  We also have a 2 year old black lab who is perfectly toilet trained. We have a small back garden and both dogs stay in the conservatorywhere they each have a wire crate cage which is open and they use their own as a den, though my pup does try to camp out in my older dogs place... though she often kicks him out! :-)
We started out by trying to paper train him as well as bytaking him out to the back garden from the time we got him at 8 weeks. He happily goes and poos and pees in the garden and goes on command. I tried to switch to a "closed" crate for a few hours during the day as he is currently chewing everything at the moment and difficult to keep an eye on him 24 hrs. He just peed in his crate and lies in it.
I finally decided to line the crate with paper to soak up urine, and cleaned it up with vinegar solution. He is unable to hold it for more than 1 1/2 hours and if I am late in taking him out he has peed in crate and lies in it...I am worried that he has no natural cleanliness. He pees and then barks sometimes at other times he just barks and when let out does nothing. Ideally I would like him to be  in a crate for 3 hours as I have a young toddler as well. I have been through the works, taking him out 1/2 hourly as a young pup, then to hourly BUT he cannot seem to hold it longer, and he has no hesitation in just peeing on his bed. He has been through 3 beds so far as he just pees on it... literally a swimming pool. Initially I gave him thick mattresses but he is lazy he just takes 2 steps on the mattress and pees on it and it has to be thrown away.

Not sure what else to do. I thought at 6 months(almost) he should be able to hold for a few hours, its getting a bit tiring going at hourly intervals.To sum it up he does not seem to be a naturally clean pup, and although he is happy to pee outside he has no hesitation in peeing indoors either and sees no reason to hold it. He is not responsive to scolding if caught in act indoors.
Any constructive advice would be highly appreciated.

Thanks

Usha

Guess what I'm going to say first.......... yes, the scolding, perfectly natural instinct from us humans to do that, but it is exactly what you should not do to a dog, praise and reward, praise and reward, praise and reward, all scolding does is make a pup wait until you are out of sight and then pee away.

If you know he will not hold for longer than an hour and a half at present then I would not leave him in the crate for longer, the more he is allowed to go in there, the more he will get used to it. Have you tried bed one side of the crate and newspaper the other.  Pups will often pee on a new bed to put their scent there so changing the mattress/bed every time he pees on it is just making him mark it again.

Instead of garden breaks when you wish to lock him in the crate, try taking him for a walk, he is more likely to empty his bladder on a walk than a quick one in the garden.

Yes, you are right a 6 month pup should be able to hold for much longer, it is probably part stress at being locked in, part marking and part I'll show you! But it may be worth checking his bladder out, if he needs to pee all the time like this, hopefully it is just when in the crate.

Personally I think the quick walk beforehand should solve this problem completely.

What happens with him overnight - is he crated and peeing in the crate during the night or do you get up and take outfor a toilet break  during the night. I was just wondering whether he has got used to peeing in the crate overnight and so sees it as an acceptable place to go to the toilet.

It might be worth trying having his (open) crate inside a puppy pen, so that he can get out of his crate to wee if you know he's going to be left for more than the hour and a half he can last. The more he wees in his crate the more it'll become a habit.

Sorry, I have to ask, but

a 3 hour stretch locked in a crate for a lively 6 month old like a Schnauzer??  surely that's far too long in the day time??  Especially if he's also crated at night ;)

Like JG, I think putting him in a pen would be far better ;) 

I also had a young puppy and a toddler (20 months old) and the pup was behind a child gate in the kitchen (washable floor) when I couldn't supervise her or for quiet times  ;)

Just a thought but not all pups are 'dry' by six months, he may have an infection, or he may simply be a slow developer/learner ;)   also around this time even some house trained pups can 'forget' their training for a while ;)

Thank you for your replies Carrington, Harley, Jeangenie and Dill.
Carrington - the scolding is something we tried recently out of desperation.
He is taken throughout day and night at 1-2 hourly intervals.Yes got the child gate in place as well. However there are times I need to be away for more than an hour... the pup gets walked 4-6 times a day and he does need to sleep to grow... so Dill, no I don't think confining him to his bed for couple of hours at a time is wrong.

Thank you for all your suggestions.
Warm regards
Usha