Peeing in crate

Question
I have adopted an 8 mth old unaltered male miniature poodle. He may have come from some unscrupulous backyard breeding. He is a wonderful dog. I have had lots of dog experience and have owned two other poodles in my life. I have been working on crate training him.  He is doing pretty good with his housebreaking, but he pees in his crate. He is never left more than an hour and even that is rare. I wanted him crate trained because we will be traveling with him. My thoughts are that he may have been caged at some point and therefore he has lost some of this cleanliness instinct or perhaps it is anxiety. He doesn't mind the crate and naps in it often on his own accord. Any suggestions or should I just give the crate up? Also, I can't lock him in the kitchen when we are away from home because he is quite agile and can jump the baby gate.

Answer
Hello Geri,
Sorry for the delay in answering your question, My computer went down in a storm and I haven't had access until now.
If you don't intend to breed your dog, neutering him might help.  
If he has a large crate, section it off so that he doesn't have alot of room inside.  That way, if he does potty, he will be forced to lay in it if he does potty.  
Also, put puppy pads down to absorb any urine that he may do.  
When you are home, keep him in the crate for a short period of time then take him out and have him potty outside.
Praise him when he goes outside.
(I would keep him in the crate for about 30 minutes at a time and take him out about twice when he is in the crate)

Be sure to clean your crate throughly to get rid of any urine smells that might cause him to continue wanting to pee in the crate.

I hope this helps some.  It is pretty hard to train a dog not to potty in the crate when they are used to it, but it can be done with patience.

Thanks for using AllExperts.com,
Kim