There’s a few dogs who seem not to mind laying in their own mess and they’re obviously harder to housetrain. I’m thinking part of his problem is that it’s become habit. Have you cleaned his crate thoroughly with an enzyme cleaner (nothing with ammonia) so HE can’t smell any trace of his pee? If not, try that. You might also have to leave him with nothing but newspapers for a while and see what happens.

Praising him is great, but he won’t know what you’re talking about. He’s a dog – he doesn’t know you’re praising for clean bed and he definitely doesn’t understand telling him he’s bad when it’s wet. A dog can’t put that together.

You’d be better off going outside with him and giving him a ton of praise and treats the split second he pees outside. That way he’ll learn where he IS supposed to go – that should be more effective. He needs praise when he does it right.