I have a 9 month old Pomeranian puppy. I've had him for about 6 months now. He still wakes me up to take him outside.

I sleep about 8 hours, and he does go to outside right before I go to bed. He wakes up 2 hours before I get up, and he whines, and whines, and whines. I can ignore him, and it goes on for hours. I can tell him to "shhhhh" or "BE QUIET" a million times, and it won't help. Eventually I just get up, take him outside, and then I'm awake for the rest of the night.

How can I stop this? I KNOW he is capable of holding it, because he sometimes has to hold it 8 hours, on days, where I don't get home to take him out.
Oh, and he does sleep in a crate.