house training my dog

Question
A year or two ago we had a little Pekingese that we just loved, and kept her in a pen over night or when we would be gone for a short while.  One time she peed in it while we were gone, and shortly after she did it again.  We gave the little gal away, and stored the pen in our attic.  Now we have just gotten a little male Maltipoo, and wonder if it will be OK to let him use the crate> we had always heard that a dog would never pee in his own crate, but as I said the Pek did.  Will this be a signal for the new dog that it is OK to pee in his crate?   You help is greatly appreciated..

Answer
Hello Richard,
Some dogs will pee in a crate because they are marking the crate as their own, even if they don't like it.  Some dogs never pee in their crate.  If you are planning to use the same crate with the new dog, be sure to clean the crate with a pet odor approved product, such as Kids N Pets (you can get it at Wal-Mart in the cleaning isle.  I would still lay papers down or even shred newspapers into strips and lay that down for a few days.  
Give it a few days and if he pees in the crate, let me know and we will try something else.  

Thanks for using AllExperts.com,
Kim