5 month old puppy doesn’t crouch to pee

Urination issue. Background: Picked up a 5 month old mini American shepherd 3 nights ago that's vaguely a rescue (long story). She's very good about not eliminating in her crate (thank you to the previous rescuer), but has had a couple urination accidents, all within the first 24 hours. She has yet to poop outside. She's pooped in the house once a day since we picked her up. She had been using potty pads (heavy sigh, but there were reasons). We've been taking her out first thing, last thing, and before and after crate time. As of two nights ago, we got more educated and are following general potty training advice of taking her to a specified potty spot, giving her 5-10 minutes, and if she fails to pee or poop, back into the crate for 10-20 minutes, then back out to the potty spot, rinse and repeat.

Issue: We did this 4AM-11PM yesterday, as well as two 20-30 minute walks bookended by visits to the potty spot. She never crouched to pee. It's now been a full 24 hours since I FOR SURE saw her pee (it was a little panic tinkle by the crate as I was clipping on her leash yesterday morning, and she's very quickly becoming not afraid of the leash noise), but she has sniffed around intently, lied down in the grass for 5-20 seconds, then sprung up and started sniffing and trying to engage or head toward the door on some of the potty trips. Pretty sure that's her peeing. Since we aren't sure when she pees, we wind up staying the full 5 minutes minimum outside, and she occasionally gets bored and just sits and stares at us until it's time. She seems overall happy, comfortable, and energetic. She's eating, drinking etc. and seems fine. Doesn't seem to mind being in her crate as long as we're in the room despite how much time she's been spending in it, but I'm kinda not okay with it. We're taking her to the vet tomorrow for her first checkup in our care.

Questions: What the what? Has anyone seen a puppy lie down to pee? How the heck am I supposed to praise and reward her for peeing outside when I can't tell if she's peeing or just chilling?