Pooping in the house at night still at over a year

Hi all. We have a one year and 3 month old PWD. At night time, we sleep upstairs in our bed and he sleeps in his crate (unlocked) downstairs. We used to have a pen attached to the crate when he was younger.

Every night before we go to bed, we try to let him in our backyard to poop. We have waited 30 minutes sometimes, but he never poops at night. Ever.

When we used the pen, he would not poop in the pen or crate. However, since we have gotten rid of the pen, he will now poop downstairs.

We do not want to use the pen forever as it’s extremely bulky, and he can be trusted with being alone downstairs (save the nighttime poops). We also know that closing him inside the crate at night is a recipe for disaster as he will scream the house down.

I’m not sure where we failed and prevented setting him up for success, and I’m not sure where we go from here. The worst part is he doesn’t really cry for the bathroom, even during the day. He just paws at the door and we can’t hear that from upstairs. Sometimes he will whine. But at night, it’s dead quiet, so we don’t know to get up and let him out. He just does it. At best, he will cry and be vocal AFTER.

Any tips or advice is appreciated because we know this isn’t sustainable and we need to do something different.