Yes his issues took that long, sometimes I wondered if he'd ever be crate trained; even just having the bedroom door closed or being in the car made him anxious at first.
Kaia at 18 weeks weighs in at 12.2 lbs. She's so little, but growing steadily and has finally, much to our delight, begun taking naps. She is thoroughly settled in and trying to convince Loki she is the boss. They bonded quicker than we expected and it cracks us up when they go from cuddly and grooming each other to bickering like toddlers. His tail is still her favorite chew toy…poor boy. We have the occasional pee accident...never on the floor, always on either their bed (now removed) or our bed! She won't give any indication she needs to go, she'll just suddenly squat and pee. Friday she did so great asking to go outside to potty, then Saturday she peed on the comforter! We've started taking her to the dog park and she's doing well, going up to big dogs though still a bit unsure of them, even tried initiating play with 2 dogs today. Loki was so much different in that area, loved dogs from the beginning including a 90+ lb German Shepherd he met at 9 weeks. She is incredibly food motivated and once she starts thinking is very smart, but it takes awhile for her to actually think instead of just trying to get the treat out of my hand.
And oh can they be funny when it comes to tantrums or spite. He wasn't happy once while still a puppy when I woke him to go potty...told him to go, the little smarty pants just looked me right in the eyes, didn't even bother to lean or anything and started peeing on the concrete slab without even going into the yard! That was the first and only time he's ever done that. And he'll ignore you too...he'll just stare straight ahead and eventually will just move his eyes slightly in your direction so you know he hears you, he just doesn't want to acknowledge you.
Great to hear about being able to be in the crate for that long 3x a day! That is definite improvement and I'm so glad she's improving with this new trainer.